As we celebrate 20 years of cloud innovation, it's amazing to think about how many things we now do instantly.
We can stream movies from anywhere, book hotel rooms from our phones, and tap an app and a car arrives minutes later instead of trying to hail a taxi.
Today these experiences feel completely normal. Not long ago, many of them would have been difficult, expensive — or simply impossible.
Having spent more than three decades in the technology industry, I’ve watched wave after wave of innovation reshape how we live and work. Some technologies generate excitement but fade away. Others fundamentally change what’s possible.
Cloud computing was one of those ideas.
At its core was a simple concept: what if the powerful technology inside a data centre could be accessed on demand over the internet.
In 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched Amazon S3 — a storage solution that helped spark one of the most important technology transformations of our era.
Suddenly, technology that once required large budgets and specialized systems became accessible to far more people. The cloud didn’t just change how technology was built — it changed who could build it.
Innovation accelerated. Startups like Netflix, Lyft and Airbnb could launch global services without building their own infrastructure, and entirely new digital platforms could scale to millions of users almost overnight.
Today, millions of customers use AWS to power everything from retail and digital banking to scientific research and sports. This includes 80% of the world’s unicorns listed by PitchBook and tens of thousands of organizations here in Canada.
Ten Years of Building the Cloud for Canadians, by Canadians
From the beginning, we believed that for the cloud to reach its full potential, customers needed control over their data — including where it is stored and processed. AWS was the first major cloud provider to give customers control over the location and movement of their data. In 2022, we further strengthened this approach by introducing the AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge—our commitment to offering all AWS customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls and features available in the cloud.
We knew digital sovereignty would be especially important for Canadian organizations.
In 2016, we launched the AWS Canada (Central) Region in Montreal, enabling organizations to run applications and store data in Canada while benefiting from advanced cloud capabilities, low latency, and improved performance.
As the landscape evolved, so did our customers’ needs. In 2023, we launched the AWS Canada West (Calgary) Region — becoming the first major cloud provider to establish a data centre hub in Western Canada and giving organizations even greater flexibility in where they could run their workloads.
Today, we offer more IT services from Canadian regions than any other cloud provider.
Our data centre infrastructure represents more than just technology. They are a long-term commitment to Canada — supporting jobs, investing in communities, and helping organizations across the country build and grow.
Over the past decade, we have invested billions of dollars building cloud infrastructure across Canada. Our planned investment is expected to reach $24.8 billion (CA) by 2037, supporting an average of more than 9,300 jobs annually and contributing approximately $42.3 billion to Canada’s GDP.
Across Canada, organizations are already using AWS to innovate and solve real-world challenges.
Powering Canadian Innovation
Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen how cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) are helping Canadian organizations move faster, tackle complex challenges, and compete on a global stage.
At the University of British Columbia’s Cloud Innovation Centre powered by AWS, researchers recently pushed the boundaries of virology — discovering nine times more new viruses in just 11 days than the field had uncovered in the previous 130 years.
Across Canada, we’re seeing similar breakthroughs.
Toronto-based fintech company KOHO is using generative AI to strengthen financial crime detection, helping analysts identify suspicious transactions faster and more accurately.
Out West, Vancouver’s startup Voxelis.AI is creating AI-powered camera systems on helicopters to help improve wildfire response and resource coordination in rapidly changing conditions.
Montreal-founded AlayaCare is using AI to help predict which home care patients are most at risk, supporting its mission to help people age at home with dignity.
Together, these examples reflect a broader shift. Cloud and AI are lowering the barriers to innovation and helping organizations of all sizes turn ideas into impact faster than ever before.
Supporting Canada’s Next Generation of Builders
At AWS, we understand that infrastructure and IT services are only part of the equation. For years, we have worked to help people build the in-demand tech skills needed for today and tomorrow, because a competitive digital economy depends on investing in people.
Since 2017, AWS has helped train more than 300,000 people in Canada in cloud and AI skills, working with post-secondary institutions, workforce organizations, and community groups.
Behind those numbers are real people building new futures.
Programs like AWS re/Start are helping Canadians launch careers in technology. In some cases, that means helping First Nations individuals gain cloud skills without leaving their communities. In other cases, we saw geologists and engineers pivoting into cloud and AI roles as roles in the energy sector evolve.
Expanding access to technological education is just as important. Initiatives like the AWS Think Big Space in Montreal, helps underserved and underrepresented students gain hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).
AWS also works with many community organizations across Canada to expand opportunity and strengthen local communities. For example, the Calgary Community Fund provides micro-grants to organizations launching initiatives that expand access to STEAM education, support environmental stewardship, and strengthen community wellbeing. Programs like the AWS Imagine Grant also help non-profits harness cloud technology with funding, technology credits and technical support.
Together, these efforts reflect a simple belief: when more people and organizations have access to opportunity and technology, entire communities benefit.
The AI Era and What Comes Next
If the past twenty years of cloud computing have transformed how organizations build and run technology, we are now amid another major shift.
AI requires computing power, secure infrastructure, and scalable data capabilities. Cloud computing provides that foundation. Simply put, there is no AI without the cloud.
AI is already reshaping industries at a remarkable speed. In Canada, one business adopts AI every three minutes, which is faster than mobile phone adoption in the early 2000s and faster than the global uptake of the internet.
Yet most adoption remains in the early stages. Many organizations are experimenting with AI in focused ways rather than embedding it deeply into their core operations.
That gap represents opportunity. With the right infrastructure, skills, and long-term investment, Canadian organizations can move from experimentation to transformation.
The Next 20 Years: Looking Toward 2046
Moments like this are rare in technology. Looking ahead, the next twenty years will bring innovations we are only beginning to understand — from generative AI systems that assist with complex decision-making to agentic AI capable of autonomously carrying out tasks and coordinating work across systems. Some of the companies shaping Canada’s economy in 2046 already exist today. Others have not yet been founded
What will remain constant is AWS’s long-term commitment to customers. We take a long view — investing ahead of demand, expanding infrastructure across Canada, and building the secure, reliable services organizations depend on every day.
If the past two decades have shown us anything, it is that when we build together with long-term focus, the possibilities are far greater than any of us can predict.
