Despite its political and economic upheavals, Latin America offers important advantages for these capital-intensive projects, including abundant renewable energy and natural resources such as metals and rare earths, a skilled local workforce and, in some cases, favorable jurisdictions or even tax incentives.
As companies from Google to Amazon scout the world for new locations to establish these units – critical to support cloud services and the artificial intelligence boom – the region’s digital footprint keeps expanding: According to IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the regional development bank, annual data center investments are poised to double in just a few years, jumping to almost $10 billion by 2029 from about $5 billion in 2023. Arizton Advisory & Intelligence estimates that Latin America’s share of the global market will rise to more than 2.1% by 2030 from 1.7% in 2024, with the region adding 2,820 MW of data center power capacity by 2035 from its current 1,450 MW as so-called hyperscale projects come online.