Non-profit operator Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) announced it is discontinuing its U.S. operations, shifting focus to Africa and Asia in a bid to ensure resilient and independent local internet infrastructure.

“We entered the USA in 2013 because there was a strong-voiced need for the European internet exchange model to fuel an open and neutral internet," AMS-IX CEO Peter van Burgel noted in a statement. “We can look back on our U.S. story with pride for the part we played in introducing this model there. Now it is time to review our operations, and we believe our efforts are better served elsewhere.”

The organization, which acts as a neutral, global hub connecting more than 1,000 internet networks to exchange data via independent internet infrastructure, said it will decommission its existing operations in Chicago and the California Bay Area by March 2026.

AMS-IX added that after a review of its operations and considering the impact on the market, it has decided to focus on areas where it can make a bigger contribution due to digital infrastructure growing faster in these regions, compared to saturated markets.

The firm assured that existing U.S. users can transition their peering activities to its partner Megaport for a smooth continuation of services.

The exchange point entity currently operates 15 internet exchanges in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, with plans to continue growth through several new value-added services, starting with Accurate Time Services in early 2026.

AMS-IX’s Africa and Asia expansion

In September 2023, AMS-IX partnered with Awasr and Alliance Networks to create the first internet exchange (IX) in Oman – Oman-IX, which officially launched in April 2024.

The collaboration, which is owned by Awasr, saw AMS-IX provide the platform and technical support, as well as offer its expertise and training to Oman-IX, while Alliance Networks handled marketing and sales.

AMS-IX was also one of the first internet exchanges to venture into Africa in 2014, through its collaboration with the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) to establish AMS-IX East Africa, in Mombasa, Kenya. This helped connect Eastern African networks and keep regional traffic within the region. However, the venture didn’t draw enough networks to sustain itself and closed down after about a year, local media outlet Tech dot Africa reported.

In another stint in 2022, AMS-IX partnered with Telecom Egypt to launch EG-IX (Egypt Internet Exchange) in Cairo. Later, the operator collaborated with MDXi Data Centers to relaunch an existing exchange, previously known as WAF-IX, as AMS-IX Lagos.

As part of its strategy to implement internet exchanges in various key locations in Asia, the operator collaborated with HGC Global Communications in 2022, establishing AMS-IX Singapore to help companies such as content delivery networks (CDNs), application providers, cloud providers, and telecom carriers to exchange internet traffic with a multitude of networks using a single connection.

AMS-IX Singapore, alongside AMS-IX Hong Kong, were designed to enable lower latency and decrease peering costs for partners in neighboring countries, including Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Thailand.