AWS loses datacentre leader as Amazon splashes out billions on expansion

Chris Vonderhaar, who was heading up AWS’ massive global datacentre fleet, is no longer with the $85bn cloud giant

AWS loses datacentre leader as Amazon splashes out billions on expansion

As Amazon Web Services pours billions into its ever-growing datacentre footprint, the cloud giant has lost its top executive in the area and longtime AWS leader Chris Vonderhaar.

Vonderhaar (pictured) was responsible for the design, planning, construction and operations of AWS' massive datacentre fleet on a worldwide basis. AWS datacentres power the $85bn cloud company's infrastructure and cloud services.

AWS confirmed to CRN that Vonderhaar is no longer with the company.

However, AWS declined to comment on Vonderhaar's departure. The company also declined to say if AWS has found a replacement for Vonderhaar's position yet. He had been with the company for nearly 13 years in top cloud infrastructure roles.

In addition to leading the Amazon subsidiary's datacentre global strategy, Vonderhaar was responsible for business development and procurement of utility connections, the AWS renewable energy portfolio, and AWS sustainability teams and business, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In 2021, news outlet Insider reported that Vonderhaar could be a potential successor to former AWS CEO Andy Jassy, who had been recently promoted to CEO of Amazon.

AWS spending billions on datacentre in 2023

Vonderhaar's departure comes as AWS is investing heavily to expand its datacentre footprint both in America and abroad.

Just this month, Amazon unveiled plans to invest $12.7bn in new datacentres in India to expand its cloud capabilities and customer base in the region.

In January, Amazon announced a massive $35bn investment in building new datacentres across Virginia.

The group has launched two new AWS Local Zones in Australia and Chile - which are all powered by datacentres - this year already.

In addition, AWS unveiled plans to pump $6bn into datacentre in Malaysia.

Chris Vonderhaar's IT career

Vonderhaar first joined AWS in 2010 as director of infrastructure planning and product management, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He was promoted to vice president of infrastructure forecasting, planning and Amazon corporate systems in 2017, responsible for datacentre capacity planning, real estate sourcing and service delivery for AWS and Amazon product teams. Vonderhaar has been vice president of the AWS datacentre community since late 2018.

Prior to AWS, Vonderhaar was a top executive for Level 3 Communications from 1998 to 2008, where he was vice president of customer media operations. Level 3 was later acquired by CenturyLink. Before Level 3, he worked for Accenture and GE Capital during the 1990s.