Twenty years ago, AWS quietly launched S3, "storage for the internet," as we called it back then. A simple idea to help builders focus on innovation, not infrastructure. Analysts labeled this a risky bet. Today, hundreds of thousands of customers across Australia and New Zealand use our AI and cloud services to innovate, scale, and reimagine what technology can achieve.
As I step into the role of AWS Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, I can see what’s possible in the next 20 years, with both Australia and New Zealand playing a global leadership role in an AI-enabled future.
AI is here and the momentum is real
AI is no longer a future promise. It's here, it's working, and Australians and Kiwis are embracing it with a confidence that should make every business leader in this country optimistic.
Our newly launched Unlocking Australia’s AI Potential 2026 research, a survey of Australian businesses and citizens, confirms what we’re seeing across the region: eight in ten Australian businesses using AI are seeing measurable productivity gains from their AI investments.
And it's not just businesses leaning in. Nearly three-quarters of Australians are comfortable with (38%) or actively want faster digital innovation (34%).
That's why we’re making deep investments to accelerate Australia and New Zealand’s AI capability.
Since 2012, Amazon has invested $18.9 billion into cloud and AI infrastructure in Australia, and last year we announced a new $20 billion investment to expand our data centre infrastructure to build national AI capability, which is already being utilised. In New Zealand, our 38th AWS Region went live to meet the needs of Kiwi customers and partners, building on previous infrastructure investments and representing a $7.5 billion long-term commitment to the country.
Skills key to unlocking AI at work
Here's something that I hope gets every business leader thinking. Our research found that 54% of Australians say their personal use of AI is more advanced than what they're doing at work. Why? A few key reasons that emerge are limited training and support – paired with a feeling of more freedom to experiment personally.
People are going home, experimenting with AI, solving problems, getting creative, and then coming to work the next day and are told to wait. That's a gap we need to close together.
It's exactly why AWS is investing in AI school programs like AI Spring, free training courses, and work-based learning, because the ambition is already there. We just need to unlock it. We've already trained more than 400,000 Australians in cloud skills and just announced that we’ve done the same for 100,000 Kiwis, two years ahead of schedule, and we'll continue to accelerate from here.
A country that sees AI as the answer
When we asked everyday Australians what role AI will play in solving our biggest national challenges, the answers were telling: 63% believe AI is important to preventing or curing disease, 62% to making healthcare more accessible, and 61% to driving Australia’s economic growth. These data points represent a strong sentiment that Aussie's are ready for this country to lead in the AI era, not wait for someone else to.
The next 20 years
The first 20 years of AWS were about providing the building blocks businesses need to turn ideas into reality. The next 20 years will be shaped by thousands of innovative companies redefining what's possible. We're now in a world where humans and AI agents will co-exist, ushering in a fundamental reimagining of how businesses, consumers, and technology interact. Customers are no longer limited to just a small group of specialised talent working on a problem. They can now augment their team by adding agents to work with them to deliver results.
Just as we couldn't have predicted what our customers would build when we launched S3 twenty years ago, we can't fully predict what they'll build by 2046. But I'm convinced it will be extraordinary.
Australia and New Zealand have always punched above their weight. With the right investments in capability, infrastructure, and skills – we will do it again. Our commitment is simple: AWS will match your ambition, every single day and continue to lay the foundations by investing in infrastructure, AI services, and skills needed to accelerate Australia and New Zealand’s AI potential and position us as an “AI leader” not an “AI consumer”.
That spirit – the ambition, the curiosity, the refusal to settle – that's what inspires me about our ANZ community. And, it’s what makes me relentless about what’s possible tomorrow.
