AMC-8 was ordered by GE Americom as GE-8 and built by Lockheed Martin based on their A2100A satellite bus. In 2001 GE Americom was acquired by SES from Luxembourg, making SES the world’s biggest satellite service provider. After the acquisition GE Americom was renamed SES Americom and later SES World Skies, and resulted also in renaming the satellite assets, GE-8 became AMC-8.

AMC-8 was launched on December 19^th, 2000, in a dual launch with Astra 2D satellite for SES, on an Ariane 5G booster rocket operated by launch operator Arianespace from the Kourou Space Port in French Guiana.