Amazon for the first time disclosed that the amount of water it used last year to operate data centres worldwide reached 2.5 billion gallons, or about 9.5 billion litres. As artificial intelligence spreads and data centres' power and water consumption become a global issue, the detailed disclosure by a Big Tech company is seen as a meaningful case.

On June 11 local time, IT media outlet The Verge reported that Amazon said in recent sustainability materials it used a total of 9.5 billion litres of water to operate data centres in 2025. That is equivalent to 19 billion 500-ml bottles of water and matches the annual water use of 80,000 South Koreans. Measured by lakes, it is an enormous amount equal to about 1.5 times the freshwater volume of Seoul's Seokchon Lake in Jamsil.

The disclosure comes as controversy grows over the impact of expanding AI data centres on local power grids and water resources. Interest in the industry is intensifying, coming shortly after the U.S. city of Seattle implemented a measure to suspend data centre construction for 1 year.

Amazon also stressed improvements in operational efficiency along with total water use. According to the company, its data centres last year used an average of 0.12 litres of water per kilowatt hour of electricity. It said total water use fell 2 percent from the previous year even as data centre scale continued to expand.

Amazon said this shows data centre operating efficiency is improving. It said the water-use efficiency of its data centres is about 7 times higher than the industry average.

It also presented a comparison with competitors. Amazon said in its own report it has maintained a lower level of water consumption per electricity use than Microsoft, Google and Meta in recent years. It added that comparison standards differ. In Google's case, the figures focus on data centres related to the Gemini AI, while Amazon is known to have used overall data centre operating data.

Some also point out that the disclosed figures do not reflect the full burden of data centres' water consumption. Amazon's disclosed water use includes only water used directly in the data centre operation process. Water used as cooling water at power plants supplying electricity to data centres and water consumed during construction of new data centres were excluded from the tally.

On cooling methods, Amazon stressed it is minimising water use. The company said its data centres use air cooling about 90 percent of the time, and use water cooling that evaporates water only in a limited way during the hottest periods. It added it is also working to raise the temperature range server equipment can withstand to reduce the cooling burden.

The industry expects the disclosure to become an opportunity to further expand discussions of the environmental burden from the spread of AI infrastructure. As competition in generative AI services intensifies, Big Tech companies are continuing data centre investments worth billions of dollars. As a result, water use, as well as power consumption, is emerging as a key evaluation indicator.

Amazon is stressing improved operating efficiency, but debate is expected to continue over how much the figures reflect the actual environmental burden, as indirect water use at power plants and during construction stages was excluded.