Amazon eyes Latam expansion, opens Argentina office

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc aims to expand cloud computing operations in Latin America, a company executive said on Monday, after its Amazon Web Services unit opened an office in Buenos Aires last month. That added to Amazon offices in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Services vice president, worldwide public sector, said at a conference. "We have to be partners of Latin America. There's lots of opportunities, amazing talent," Carlson said. "We also have a cloud region in Brazil and will be expanding to more countries for sure in Latin America." Amazon Web Services (AWS) handles data and computing for large enterprises in the cloud. The team in Argentina works to promote the use and innovation of cloud-based technologies, its website says. Argentina's President Mauricio Macri met with Amazon's Elaine Feeney, vice president for infrastructure global expansion for AWS, late last year and discussed installing a data center in Argentina, according to the Argentine government. The Argentina office appears to have opened with little fanfare on April 8. In February, AWS executives who work on energy supply for data centers met with Argentina's Energy Minister Juan Jose Aranguren in a sign that Argentina's move to develop renewable energy may be attractive to Amazon. An energy ministry spokesman said they discussed energy supply, the evolution of energy prices and the impact of renewables on the national grid. Amazon’s chief financial officer attributed part of the company's $1.6 billion profit last quarter to higher sales from its web services unit. (Reporting by Eliana Raszewski, Additional reporting by Luc Cohen; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Richard Chang)