‘AI for Whom?’ Inside Brazil’s Data Centre Boom
Brazil’s data centre capacity could triple by 2030, fuelled by companies from China and the US flocking to the country. The implications for local water and energy consumption are worrying experts.
Brazil is already Latin America’s data centre hub, with an installed capacity of around 800 megawatts (MW). The country has 198 facilities according to the Data Center Map, which gathers information on both operating and planned facilities worldwide.
Data centres are not a new phenomenon, but the explosion of generative AI chatbots has led to a huge increase in demand. The US has by far the highest number of data centres, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom and China.
In December, ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, announced a USD 38 billion investment for a data centre in Porto do Pecém, in the eastern coastal state of Ceará. Other Chinese companies interested in Brazil include Huawei and Alibaba.