Amazon Web Services cut a deal on Thursday to give the Trump administration up to $1 billion in discounts, the latest Big Tech firm to slash its prices for the president.
The General Services Administration said the deal, which it announced Thursday morning and lasts until the end of 2028, would help the federal government accomplish its twin goals of modernizing IT infrastructure and incorporating artificial intelligence into its workflows.
“As federal agencies adopt advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, AWS is positioned to not only help them achieve immediate operational efficiencies, but also to build the foundation for a more secure and innovative government of tomorrow,” Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said in a news release. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.
Amazon is the latest tech giant to offer deep discounts to the federal government, with industry leaders keen to avoid the adversarial relationships that emerged between President Donald Trump and the sector during his first administration.
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Thursday’s deal in particular shows a turnaround in approach for Amazon Web Services in dealing with the president: The White House passed Amazon’s cloud computing arm up for a $10 billion deal during Trump’s first term, which prompted a protracted legal battle with the administration. Amazon argued in court that the government iced it out due to the personal animus Trump held toward its then-CEO, Jeff Bezos.
The entire deal was later scrapped in 2021 during the Biden administration.
Just a few years later, the shift from tech leaders was evident on Trump’s first day back in office: Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk surrounded Trump at his inauguration in January.
In April, Google agreed to discount its cloud tool Workspace to the federal government by over 70%. Oracle followed suit last month by offering a 75% discount on software contracts (as well as “substantial discounts” on cloud computing). And tech bosses in the Middle East made over $200 billion in deals with Trump when he traveled there in May.
On Wednesday, OpenAI gave a giant discount to federal agencies, in which employees have access to ChatGPT for a year; the fee is $1 per agency.
That same day, Apple CEO Tim Cook was in the Oval Office presenting President Donald Trump with an engraved glass plaque — equipped with the Apple logo and a 24 carat gold base to hold it all up — before Cook pledged a $600 billion investment in the United States over the next four years. He also announced that production facilities would open across the country, which Trump suggested would exempt Apple from soon-to-be implemented tariffs on chips and semiconductors.
“We’re a proud American company and we believe deeply in the promise of this great nation,” Cook said Wednesday. “Thank you President Trump for putting American innovation and American jobs front and center.”
To go along with Apple’s investment, Trump said companies including Nvidia, Micron Technology, IBM, SoftBank, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Johnson & Johnson, Stellantis and General Motors would invest “trillions of dollars” as well.
“They’re coming in because they like the way the election worked out, but they also like the fact that they don’t want to pay tariffs,” Trump said of the slew of investments.
“It’s companies like Apple, they’re coming home,” Trump added. “They have to come home. We’re going to treat them really well. We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors. But the good news for companies like Apple is, if you’re building in the United States, or have committed to build without question … there will be no charge.”
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