AmazonsIt said on Thursday that it plans to increase its spending on US suppliers by 20% this year to support US SMEs at a time when the Delta variant virus may bring more uncertainty.

The company said it plans to purchase products and services worth more than 120 billion US dollars from more than 200,000 US companies this year. Most of these suppliers are small and medium-sized enterprises. This 20% increase in spending did not include companies selling products on the Amazon website, but rather companies that provided the goods and services needed to operate Amazon.

Citing a report from Keystone Economics, Amazon said its 2021 spending is expected to support 840,000 US jobs, involving construction, transportation, manufacturing, and hospitality.