Amazon is investing US$230 million in AWS credits to support early-stage generative AI startups, offering free access to computing power and AI models. This initiative aims to bolster the AI ecosystem on AWS, reflecting the competitive strategies among cloud providers to attract AI clients.
13 June 2024 – Amazon has announced a substantial investment of US$230 million in Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits aimed at supporting artificial intelligence startups. This strategic move underscores the efforts by cloud providers to secure AI clients from their early stages of development.
The AWS credits will grant early-stage generative AI startups complimentary access to essential computing power, a variety of AI models, and infrastructure, provided they build their operations on AWS. This initiative is part of Amazon’s broader commitment, which already includes offering US$1 billion in cloud credits annually to startups, with the new focus specifically targeting generative AI enterprises.
Matt Wood, Vice President of AI Products at AWS, highlighted the benefits for startups, stating, “They’ll be able to iterate very quickly and pivot very quickly as necessary. Then ultimately, when they hit on that home run, they’ll be able to double down and get to scale with security, responsibility, and consistency.”
A portion of the new credits will also support 80 early-stage companies worldwide through the AWS Generative AI Accelerator program. Each participating startup in the accelerator could receive up to US$1 million in AWS credits. This approach mirrors strategies used by other cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, which also offer credits to attract enterprise clients due to the high costs associated with cloud usage.
Earlier this year, Amazon expanded its cloud credits to encompass the use of models from providers such as Anthropic, Meta, Mistral AI, and Cohere. This expansion aims to increase AWS’s market share in the competitive AI platform space. The growing demand for AI has significantly boosted cloud service usage, contributing to the accelerated growth of cloud providers. Notably, AWS’s revenue surged by 17% to US$9.42 billion in the first quarter, exceeding analyst expectations.
The increasing investments by tech giants in AI startups have also drawn attention from regulators over potential antitrust concerns. In related news, Howard Wright, the global head of Startups at AWS who managed startup relationships, recently left the company. Amazon has declined to comment on his departure.
[source]
