AWS has announced a major expansion in Israel, with the company opening a cloud region in Tel Aviv and planning to invest $7.2 billion.

Israel has long been known for its tech scene, making it a natural choice for Amazon to open a cloud region there. The company says it will invest the $7.2 billion through 2037.

“The launch of the AWS Region in Israel provides customers with the ability to build the most advanced cloud technology-based applications and achieve the highest levels of security, availability, and resilience,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “Israel’s strategy to promote technology innovation, along with its abundance of talent, has created a thriving global hub for entrepreneurs, e-governments, and multinational businesses. Cloud technology is at the heart of any digital transformation program, and AWS is proud to support Israel’s efforts to enhance citizen services for many years to come.”

The announcement builds on AWS winning part of an Israeli government cloud contract in 2021.

“We are excited to welcome the new AWS Region to Israel as part of project Nimbus and we congratulate AWS for its commitment and hard work in building the Israeli Region,” said Yali Rothenberg, accountant general of Israel. “The establishment of the Israeli Region reflects the long-term commitment of AWS to Israel and to the continuation of their large investments in the Israeli market. The establishment of the Region will enable us to migrate substantial governmental workloads to the cloud, and we are confident that it will help us accelerate digital transformation in the public sector, leverage technology to drive innovation in the government, improve customer experience, and further the development of the technological ecosystem in Israel.”