AWS CEO Matt Garman stated that he hopes Amazon can be more straightforward in explaining how data centers have already impacted daily life.
“If you usually go to the community and say, ‘Don’t you want to use Netflix?’ they would say, ‘No, no, I still want to use Netflix,’” Garman said in a recent interview on the “A16z Show” podcast.
The meaning of Garman is that services like Netflix rely on AWS cloud, and AWS cloud in turn requires data centers that are increasingly opposed by Americans. His remarks also highlight that the entire industry is trying to respond to the reality that data centers are becoming an increasingly politically sensitive issue.
“I think we need to speak up more loudly and be more straightforward, because in fact we have done a lot of very beneficial things,” he said.
Netflix has been a customer of Amazon for many years. Netflix stated in 2016 that after an interruption in 2008 that resulted in it being unable to deliver DVD to customers for three consecutive days, the company decided it needed to migrate to the cloud. In its 2025 annual report, this streaming giant indicated that "the vast majority of its computations are run on AWS," making it very difficult to switch to other service providers.
Garman has previously stated Amazon's opposition to the suspension of data center construction. He argued that such measures would strangle one of the largest infrastructure projects in the United States, on a scale comparable to the construction of the interstate highway system, and could cause the US to lose its leading position in global AI competition.
"If these measures are implemented, the United States may be writing its own ticket to lose this race, and the consequences will last for several generations," he wrote on October 2nd. "As a nation, we cannot afford to find ourselves in such a situation."
Polls show that Americans still overwhelmingly oppose the construction of a AI data center in their communities.
A survey conducted by Fox News last month found that more than seven in ten registered voters, or 71%, expressed their opposition to the construction of data centers in their areas to support the development of AI. Previous surveys have also shown that the majority are against such constructions.
Business Insider Previous reports have indicated that as data center issues become a political burden for those in office, some state leaders are reevaluating their support for data centers.
In addition to the services provided by the data centers, Garman also stated that Amazon's growth has benefited the tax base of local communities. He also mentioned that this tech giant will continue to increase its support for areas that welcome such development.
“I think we just need to explain more clearly the benefits we bring, because I feel that if you tell the community, ‘by the way, if we weren’t here, your tax bills would be $5,000 less than they are now,’” he said, “their view of that building might be a bit different.”
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