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June 4 (Reuters) - Amazon.com AMZN.O is investing $10 billion in North Carolina to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure, further deepening its presence in the state as it seeks to cement its position in the fast-growing technology.

The investment, announced on Wednesday for Richmond County, is expected to create at least 500 high-skilled jobs, including positions for data center engineers and network specialists, Amazon said.

The tech giant already employs about 24,000 full- and part-time staff in North Carolina, where it has also been ramping up its retail operations, with plans to open several new last-mile facilities in the region.

The move is the latest in a series of investments Amazon has pledged in the past few years, as Big Tech companies race to build data centers needed to power AI applications, investing hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide.

Amazon's capital expenditures totaled about $25 billion in the first quarter, and the company has said it expects to maintain that level of spending for the rest of the year. It was not immediately clear whether the $10 billion investment was part of the previously announced capital expenditure plans.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for additional details.

The company's planned outlay comes amid concerns that Big Tech companies might be scaling back their large investments, following reports of canceled data center leases at Microsoft MSFT.O that pointed to excess capacity.

Companies have reaffirmed their commitment to extensive investments, with Amazon's CEO saying earlier this year that the multi-billion-dollar investments in AI were essential to maintain competitiveness.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

((DeborahMary.Sophia@thomsonreuters.com;))