Скачать или смотреть IFF LATAM'25 | Brazil offers timely opportunity for large-scale AI infrastructure

Jeff Ferry, board director at Elea Data Centers, described Brazil as a timely market for large-scale digital infrastructure investment, citing favourable conditions for the group’s planned $65 billion “AI City” development in Rio de Janeiro.

Speaking at the inaugural The Tech Capital LATAM Finance Forum in Sao Paulo, Ferry said: “The timing is great because of the buildout and all the things going on in Brazil. With our announcement of the AI City in Rio, the additional customers looking to build in Brazil and the discussion around the change in the tax regime, all are positive not only for Brazil but for Latin America.”

The project, announced earlier this week, is expected to deliver 3.2GW of data centre capacity. Ferry emphasised that execution will be gradual, with investment linked to customer demand. “It’s not US$65 billion in one slug,” he said. “It’ll be incremental as you go, but it is a lot of capital and a lot of work. It starts one building at a time, one customer at a time, and as that grows and builds it helps raise additional capital and build credibility to move on to the next step.”

He stressed that scale alone is insufficient without client commitment and state backing. “You have to marry those two things together. You have to have the capacity, you have to have the regional and local support of the government and municipality, and you have to have the customer base interested. Those are converging together nicely to bring forward a project that has interest and will gain momentum.”

The support of Rio de Janeiro’s municipal authorities, as well as federal figures, has been critical to advancing the initiative. “No matter where you’re at, whether in the US, Europe or here, you have to gain local support and probably federal support,” Ferry said. “It draws attention, brings capital, brings jobs. When you’re talking about $10 billion, $30 billion, $65 billion, that amount of money coming into the community is game-changing.”

Ferry noted that the development would not only establish large-scale compute infrastructure but also stimulate surrounding sectors. “The area will blossom,” he said. “Additional residential and retail will have to go in place. It creates a new city. It creates an economic bubble in that area and it’s good for the community.”

For now, Elea’s focus will remain firmly within Brazil. The company already has operations in São Paulo, Brasília, Porto Alegre and Curitiba. “Right now we’re focused on Brazil. There’s plenty of capacity and plenty to do,” Ferry said. “It creates a very nice opportunity to be all-in for Brazil with Brazilian investors and international investors.”

Asked what he would like to see change in the Brazilian market over the next year, Ferry pointed to tax policy. “We need to eliminate some of the disincentives that exist in government today, which will reduce the friction of being able to invest capital into Brazil. With that, the other advantages—green power, workforce, land, water—really come to light.”

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