Amazon Web Services (AWS) estimates that cloud computing and the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) will tremendously affect global economies, unlocking multi-trillion GDP growth opportunities.
AWS revealed the results of three new studies conducted with Telecom Advisory Services, a research and consulting firm. The studies show that in 2024 – 2030 global GDP based on cloud adoption will surpass $12 trillion, while cloud-enabled AI will account for an additional $1.5 trillion.
Region-wise, cloud adoption in the U.S. and Canada is projected to contribute over $5.8 trillion to GDP, with more than $857 billion driven by cloud-enabled AI. In Europe, these figures are expected to reach nearly $2.6 trillion and $434 billion, respectively. In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, cloud adoption is forecast to add over $2.7 trillion to GDP, including over $202 billion from cloud-enabled AI.
In 2023, cloud adoption contributed over $1 trillion to the global GDP, while cloud-enabled AI added more than $98 billion. Across the regions, cloud computing brought over $457 billion to the GDP of the U.S. and Canada, with $58 billion more coming from cloud-enabled AI. In Europe, cloud computing added over $321 billion to GDP, with cloud AI contributing about $30 billion. Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the GDP additions were over $152 billion from cloud computing and $7 billion from cloud-enabled AI.
AWS is one of the main corporate facilitators of cloud services globally. It offers a vast infrastructure made of 108 availability zones with discrete data centres across 34 geographic regions, along with local zones, CloudFront and hundreds of points of presence.
One of the three studies mentioned above explored how cloud computing impacts energy productivity, which is the economic value (GDP) generated per unit of energy (MWh) used. The study found that higher energy productivity helps businesses produce more with the same energy, lowering costs across industries, which is one of the ultimate strengths of cloud technology.
According to the study, a 10% increase in cloud adoption boosts energy productivity, resulting in an average gain of $14.57 per megawatt-hour (MWh). This leads to a production cost reduction that allows businesses to invest more in growth and innovation, potentially adding an estimated $216.8 billion to the global GDP.
