Christopher Luxon speaks on the $7.5 billion Amazon investment in New Zealand
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is outlining latest plans for mega-corporation Amazon to invest $7.5 billion in New Zealand.
In a re-announcement, Luxon told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morningthat Amazon Web Services, which specialises in cloud storage and data centres, is setting up in NewZealand.
He is set to address media shortly. You can watch him take questions from reporters in the video above.
“That’s probably the largest ever, certainly publicly announced technology investment I would imagine in New Zealand, by an international tech firm.”
Amazon announced the planned multibillion-dollar investment in September 2021, saying it should help unleash innovation, drive productivity and position New Zealand at the forefront of digital commerce for generations of Kiwis to come.
Separately, Amazon cited a study saying its data centre zone would add $10.8b to New Zealand’s GDP over a decade and a half.
The Herald reported in February that property records show Amazon has acquired three parcels of adjoining land in Westgate totalling 41,774sq m, or 4.18 ha – the size of four rugby fields.
An NZ Retail Property Group map of existing and new projects at the firm's Westgate Town Centre development in northwest Auckland. Image / NZRPG website
In the latest deal, dated December 16 last year, the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) gave Amazon permission to buy the 0.2ha 77 Fred Taylor Drive in northwest Auckland (that is, on the edge of Westgate) for a confidential sum. A change of land title went through on January 14.
That followed a March 2022 decision in which the OIO gave Amazon the green light to acquire land at an undisclosed location for the “establishment of a business, being a cluster of data centres in Auckland ... Consideration [price]: Between $250,000,000 and $350,000,000″.
However, earthworks halted at the Westgate site in the New Year, and it is now largely abandoned.
The details come a day after the Government announced wealthy foreigners with an investor residence visa would be able to purchase a home in New Zealand, in a major change to the country’s overseas investment regime.
Luxon said New Zealand would now appear more welcoming to big spenders who already fuel the economy, but are unable to set up here more permanently.
