Issue #9: Brazil’s $350B Data Center Power Play: Why the Future of AI Infrastructure May Skip the U.S.

As AI workloads explode and energy bottlenecks choke mature markets, Brazil is mounting the Global South’s most audacious data center expansion. Here’s why this changes everything.

As AI workloads explode and energy bottlenecks choke mature markets, Brazil is mounting the Global South’s most audacious data center expansion. Here’s why this changes everything.

In This Issue:

• Brazil’s $350 Billion Data Center Strategy – Why Latin America may anchor the next era of global hyperscale growth.

• Energy, Land & Execution Challenges – Can Brazil deliver sovereign-scale infrastructure before mature markets unlock grid capacity?

• Investment Signals – Who’s betting big on Brazil, and what this tells us about where capital is heading next.

• Global Data Center News Roundup – The biggest AI and cloud infrastructure developments shaping the industry this week.

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Dear Reader,

Brazil just launched one of the most ambitious digital infrastructure strategies of the decade, a plan to attract $350 billion in data center investment over the next ten years. With abundant clean energy, vast land reserves, and strong government support, Brazil is positioning itself to become the Global South’s leading AI and cloud infrastructure hub.

But can it execute fast enough?

While hyperscalers like Microsoft and AWS are already expanding, and megaprojects like Scala’s 4.75GW “AI City” are underway, Brazil must still overcome challenges around transmission infrastructure, permitting, and cost efficiency.

Meanwhile, global dynamics, from OpenAI’s shift toward self-owned compute to Europe’s record-breaking data center builds, are reshaping where and how infrastructure is delivered.

Is Brazil writing the playbook for sovereign-scale AI infrastructure outside the U.S. and China, or will execution risks slow its rise?

Let’s dive in.

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Brazil isn’t just entering the global AI race, it’s trying to redraw the map.

This week, Brazil unveiled a staggering ambition: to attract $350 billion in data center investments over the next decade.

It’s a scale rarely seen outside of China or the United States. And it’s a bold signal that Latin America’s largest economy wants to become the Global South’s primary AI and cloud infrastructure hub.

With global compute demand skyrocketing and AI models becoming power-hungry beasts, Brazil is placing a long-term bet: that its abundant green energy, strategic geography, and digital ambitions can position it as a core node in the planet’s data backbone.

Let’s unpack how this plays out—and why it could reshape the global digital economy.

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Current State of Play: Brazil’s Growing Data Center Landscape