Chapter 11

Amazon made a recent decision this July to shut down its Shanghai-based AI research lab, which is part of its AWS division. This shows the strategic realignment in a shifting environment for Amazon. Amazon reassessed both the relevance and competencies to make this decision. Amazon decided ongoing operations in China would be less strategically relevant given the increased US export restrictions and regulatory risks. Amazon is increasing its competency in AI infrastructure and cloud services by reallocating investment toward teams and locations with better alignment to global growth priorities.