Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) plans to invest several billion dollars to build a data centre campus in Montgomery County, Missouri.

The project is expected to create jobs, support road and water infrastructure improvements, generate tax revenue, and fund local education programmes. The campus will support cloud computing services used across areas such as remote work, streaming, healthcare records, and financial transactions.

“We’re building data centres that will create hundreds of new jobs, support educators and students, and strengthen local infrastructure,” said Amazon chief global affairs and legal officer David Zapolsky.

Zapolsky added that the commitments include US$3 million for local emergency dispatch services and more than US$1 million for a new community gathering space at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.

Amazon has operated in Missouri since 2017 and currently employs more than 10,000 people in the state. Its activities also support another 10,000 jobs across construction, logistics, and professional services.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe described the investment as a source of new opportunities for Montgomery County and the surrounding region. He pointed to infrastructure improvements, tax revenue for schools and public services, and future economic growth as expected benefits.

Amazon has worked with local utility Ameren Missouri to ensure costs linked to the Montgomery County data centre campus are not passed on to other ratepayers. The company’s rates are structured to cover the cost of the campus’s energy use, meaning existing Ameren customers will not see those costs reflected in their electricity bills.

Amazon has also invested in a 138MW carbon-free energy project in Missouri, enough to power more than 28,000 homes, according to the company.

In Montgomery County, Amazon is funding the water infrastructure required for the data centre campus. Once construction is complete, the system will be donated at no cost to Montgomery County Public Water Supply District No. 1, which can use it to expand water service in the area, said the firm.

Amazon expects the campus to use water for cooling for 7% of the year or less, relying on outside air cooling on most days. At full capacity, the campus is expected to use less than 0.1% of the aquifer’s annual recharge from typical rainfall.

During hotter periods, when water cooling is required, the site will use a rainwater harvesting system designed to supply around 20% of its annual water needs. It will also reuse water up to six times through an on-site recycling system.

Amazon has committed to becoming water positive across its data centre operations by 2030 and has more than 50 replenishment and conservation projects underway.

The company is also working with agricultural technology company Arable Labs on irrigation efficiency in northeastern Missouri. The project will use Arable Mark 3 sensors and AWS cloud services to give farmers real-time data on crop irrigation needs, to reduce unnecessary watering and groundwater withdrawals.

Amazon expects the project to reduce water use by 100 million gallons a year within the local watershed, equivalent to more than 150 Olympic swimming pools.