Overview

• AWS closed its Shanghai lab on July 23 after seven years of research into graph neural networks and the open-source Deep Graph Library.
• The shutdown aligns with AWS’s broader effort to streamline operations and reallocate resources to high-priority AI initiatives following a global review.
• The company is eliminating roles across specific teams and will provide affected employees with transition support, according to Amazon spokesman Brad Glasser.
• This decision continues Amazon’s long-term retreat from China, which saw the shutdown of its e-commerce marketplace in 2019 and its Kindle e-book store in 2022.
• US tech peers Microsoft and IBM have similarly scaled back AI research in mainland China as export controls escalate and Beijing pushes for AI self-sufficiency.