Amazon will buy $120 billion from US suppliers in 2021 as expansion hits 'peak season'

Amazon increasing its purchases of supplies and services by 20% this year from 200,000 US companies.

Amazon.com is increasing its purchases of supplies and services by 20% this year from over 200,000 U.S. companies.

America’s largest e-commerce giant will buy equipment for logistics sites, supplies for corporate offices, and services for construction, design and engineering projects among others.

"We are a larger company, that's no secret and so we can have those lower prices and serve our consumers," Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide economic development told FOX Business’ Susan Li in an exclusive interview. "We source over 60% of the products sold on Amazon store or actually from small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S."

Amazon shared the news a day after announcing a $1.25 billion Kentucky air hub as well as a new robotics fulfillment center, along with five delivery stations in Florida. Both investments will generate 2,000 jobs each in both states.

"As we start entering into what we refer to as our peak season, we're always opening new fulfillment centers, but we plan ahead multiple years in advance," Sullivan said.

Amazon is one of America’s largest private employers, adding over 400,000 jobs the past year with more than 30,000 jobs to fill currently.

"Those are everything from entry-level positions to management to software development engineers and those jobs, all of those jobs have a minimum starting wage of $15 an hour," Sullivan said.

Amazon has mandated masks for all fulfillment center workers regardless of their vaccination status, but is not requiring vaccines just yet.

"Of course, that is a hotly debated topic," Sullivan said. "And there's various states making different decisions on that."

Numerous companies including United Airlines, Citigroup, New York Stock Exchange and many more are requiring employees to be vaccinated before returning to the office.