A widespread internet disruption caused by an Amazon Web Services (AWS) malfunction on Monday morning exposed just how dependent modern life is on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure — and how fragile that system can be.
Despite being so essential, most people still have little understanding of what the cloud really is or where it operates.
Here’s what you need to know about the outage, which originated in Northern Virginia, and what it reveals about the cloud computing industry.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing allows companies to access powerful computing systems and services remotely, rather than owning and managing physical servers themselves.
This means businesses — from social media apps like Snapchat to global chains like McDonald’s — rent Amazon’s infrastructure to run their websites, store data, test software, and deliver services to users.
Amazon dominates the global cloud infrastructure market, holding over 41% market share according to research firm Gartner. Microsoft and Google are its main competitors.
Where the Outage Happened: Virginia’s Vital Cloud Hub
While “the cloud” may sound abstract, it has very real physical locations. Speed and performance depend on how close users are to data centers.
AWS runs four main cloud hubs in the U.S., located in California, Ohio, Oregon, and Virginia. The Northern Virginia region — called US-East-1 — is the largest and oldest, and handles far more data than any other AWS region.
Even though Amazon encourages customers to spread workloads across multiple regions to avoid total service failures, in reality, many companies still rely heavily on US-East-1.
“There’s an enormous concentration of global IT services in this one region,” said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik. “If you use AWS, you’re probably using US-East-1 — no matter where you are in the world. That creates a vulnerability.”
A Vast Network of Warehouses
Amazon's data operations in Virginia aren’t limited to one building — the company has more than 100 data centers across the region, mostly in the outer suburbs of the Washington, D.C. metro area, according to Gartner analyst Lydia Leong.
Northern Virginia is also rapidly growing into a hub for artificial intelligence computing. The rising use of AI tools — like chatbots and image generators — has driven massive demand for cloud power and sparked a surge in new data center construction.
A recent report by TD Cowen revealed that in the third quarter alone, cloud companies leased more than 7.4 gigawatts of U.S. data center capacity — more than in all of 2024 combined — reflecting just how fast the sector is expanding.
Bottom Line
The outage serves as a wake-up call: as more of our digital lives rely on a handful of cloud providers, disruptions like this show how much risk comes with centralizing so much of the internet’s infrastructure in so few places.