New data suggests that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is operating out of more than 900 data centers, far greater than previous estimates.

As reported by SourceMaterial, citing “leaked” data seen by the publication, in 2023, the cloud giant was operating from some 914 data centers in more than 50 countries.

Given how AWS has continued to invest significantly in further building out, the number is likely even higher today.

Previous industry estimates suggested that AWS’ data center tally landed somewhere between 100 and 475 facilities.

DCD has contacted AWS for comment.

AWS notably does not detail its exact data center footprint. While each cloud region has at least three availability zones, each availability zone can be one or multiple data center facilities. AWS’ website currently lists 38 regions, 120 availability zones, 700+ CloudFront POPs, and 43 local zones.

According to SourceMaterial, while online database Datacentres.com lists four Amazon data centers in Germany, the data seen by the publication suggests AWS actually has some 50 data centers in the country.

SourceMaterial adds that the reason for the number to have previously been underestimated is due to AWS leasing data center space, as well as its self-builds. The data seen by the publication suggests that Amazon has leasing agreements with around 180 partners.

With the larger number of data centers worldwide, the inevitable environmental impact also increases.

Eliza Pan, ex-AWS and now spokeswoman for Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), said: “New data centers are directly causing utilities to build new gas plants and delay coal plants’ retirements, and that locks us into using dirty energy for decades at a minimum.”

The leaked data suggests that in 2023, colocation data centers used by AWS alone used more than 7.8 million megawatt hours of electricity, around a fifth of the company’s total power.

The US, in particular, is heavily reliant on natural gas as a source of energy. Earlier this month, energy utility Southern Company’s CEO, Chris Womack, noted that AI was driving up energy requirements further and that it was important that “we utilize all of the resources available to us,” including coal and gas power. This, of course, extends beyond just AWS’ footprint.

Amazon spokesperson Kylee Yonas has argued that Amazon as a whole makes significant investments in sustainability. She said: “Not only are we the leading data center operator in efficiency, we’re the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy for five consecutive years with over 600 projects globally.”

In July 2024, the company announced that all of its operations were powered by renewable energy, having previously aimed to achieve that by 2030. AECJ criticized this, saying that the company was “distorting the truth with this announcement that hides the fact that its energy-hungry data centers operate in the heart of coal country.”

AWS is continuing to build out its footprint significantly. This week alone, the company has announced plans to invest $15bn in data centers in Northern Indian, $50bn in expanding its capacity for US government regions, and $3bn in a campus in Mississippi.