Amazon.com Inc. plans to build dozens of warehouses to serve rural areas in the U.S. before the end of 2026, growing its footprint as the company works to rely less on other carriers. 

The firm said it expects to have about 210 delivery stations up and running as part of a broad effort to establish a dedicated rural delivery network that began in 2020. It operated about 70 such facilities at the end of 2023, Amazon spokesperson Alexa Clark said, declining to specify say how many the company operates today. By the end of 2026, Amazon said, it will have invested $4 billion in total in the project. 

The largest online retailer has spent the past decade building a massive logistics operation that includes hundreds of warehouses in and around major cities and a network of bespoke contractors that hire drivers who pilot blue Amazon-branded vans.

Businesses across sectors have meanwhile faced pressure to announce U.S. spending pledges since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, vowing to revive the economy and bring back American jobs. Major tech companies in particular, including Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., have laid out plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. Amazon executives earlier this year discussed trying to make an announcement with Trump about the company’s own U.S. spending, Bloomberg has reported.

For rural areas, Amazon historically handed off most of shipments to carriers like the U.S. Postal Service or United Parcel Service Inc. UPS said this week that it expected to cut 20,000 jobs this year and close dozens of facilities as it reduces shipments for Amazon. The ecommerce giant estimates the rural network initiative will have created 100,000 jobs, including the direct employees who staff Amazon’s warehouses and drivers who are employed by contractors. 

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Amazon was considering a $15 billion warehouse expansion, including delivery hubs, a move that would reverse the company’s post-pandemic construction slowdown.