Amazon has closed its AI research lab located in Shanghai, marking a significant withdrawal by a US company from its Chinese operations in light of escalating geopolitical tensions, The Financial Times (FT) has reported.
This decision aligns with similar actions taken by other American technology companies, including IBM and Microsoft, which have also reduced their research and development activities in China due to increased scrutiny from US authorities regarding AI initiatives linked to the country.
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The exact number of employees at the Amazon Web (AWS) Shanghai lab remains unclear. In 2022, Amazon reported having more than 10,000 employees in China, with AWS previously employing more than 1,000 staff in the Shanghai region, sources told the FT.
Amazon’s cloud operations in China primarily cater to multinational corporations and local tech companies that rely on AWS for their international activities.
Wang Minjie, a scientist at the Shanghai lab, which was established by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2018, shared on social media that his team is “being dissolved due to strategic adjustments amid US-China tensions.”
Reflecting on his experience, Wang noted, “Over the past six years, I’ve had the privilege of leading the team through the golden era of foreign research labs [in China].” He highlighted that the team had contributed more than 100 academic publications and developed an open-source framework for neural networks that has reportedly generated nearly $1bn in sales for Amazon.
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By GlobalDataThe closure of the Shanghai facility coincides with broader staff reductions across Amazon. CEO Andy Jassy recently informed employees that the growing adoption of AI technologies could result in job losses within the company.
An Amazon spokesperson, Brad Glasser, stated, “We’ve made the difficult business decision to eliminate some roles across particular teams in AWS,” adding that such measures are essential as the company continues to invest and optimise its resources.
Collaboration between AI researchers in China and their counterparts abroad is increasingly restricted due to US export controls on advanced chips and cloud computing services, aimed at limiting China’s access to cutting-edge technology.
In 2024, IBM eliminated more than 1,000 research and development positions across various locations in mainland China.
Also in 2024, Microsoft proposed relocating hundreds of its Chinese employees involved in cloud and AI projects as the US government continued to impose limitations on China’s access to sensitive technologies.
In 2023, Amazon shut down its Chinese ebook store, following its earlier exit from the ecommerce market in 2019 due to fierce competition from local players like Alibaba and Pinduoduo.
