Tech giant Amazon establishes office at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen

The world’s biggest online retailer, Amazon, has opened an office in Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen.

Amazon Web Services Head of Channel and Alliances at Lot Fourteen. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Technology giant Amazon has moved into Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen.

The company on Monday announced it has established an office at the North Terrace site and plans to create 50 jobs in South Australia by 2024.

Its Adelaide office will house teams from Amazon’s cloud company subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Amazon Sciences, which focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning research.

The AWS teams will provide support for local businesses and government agencies and “assist local businesses to become more competitive on the global stage”.

Meanwhile, the Amazon Sciences team will carry out new research to improve the customer experience for Amazon.com customers.

For years, Amazon has planned for this to include deploying drones to deliver packages to customers’ yards.

In the company’s plan, an electric aerial vehicle would take off from a distribution centre, cruise some 15 miles or less, and deposit whatever item a customer wants within the hour.

In late August, the US Federal Aviation Administration gave the company a green light to keep pushing the program forward in the national airspace.

The latest Amazon drone designed to carry packages of about 2.5kg for about 25km.

AWS’s Head of South and Western Australia Sarah Bassett said the company looked forward to “helping SA to grow their emerging tech workforce and to drive future innovation from the state”.

“Our new office in Adelaide demonstrates our ongoing commitment to invest in Australia, and the long-term potential we believe there is for our nation to be a leader in the global digital economy,” she said.

“AWS provides South Australian customers with access to the latest technology to expand their business into global markets from their home state, improve their customer experience, and lower their operating costs.”

Trade and investment minister Stephen Patterson, Premier Steven Marshall and AWS head of channel and alliances Davinia Simon. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Premier Steven Marshall said Amazon’s announcement “once again highlights that global companies are looking to South Australia as a destination showing innovation and unique industry collaborations.”

“Not only will Amazon create more jobs for South Australians, the company will grow its innovation programs to support local companies, from start-ups to bigger businesses, and government organisations, which is great news for South Australia’s overall hi-tech credentials,” he said.

“The decision by Amazon to invest here is proof that South Australia is a major drawcard to international companies across hi-tech and high-growth sectors.”

Trade and Investment Minister Stephen Patterson said the addition of Amazon at Lot Fourteen adds to the precinct’s impressive line-up, including the Australian Space Agency, the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre and the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre.

“Using AWS, local companies of all sizes and across all industries will be able to tap into the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, providing companies with the opportunity to deploy specific applications, giving businesses greater flexibility,” he said.