Latin America’s data center industry is undergoing a phase of consolidation and geographic expansion, positioning it as a key global player. However, challenges remain depending on each country. In Colombia, an association created six months ago aims to jointly push regulations to attract investment and position the country as a leading global hub for the sector.

Convergencialatina interviewed Carolina Cortés, the first woman CEO of ICREA (International Computer Room Experts Association), an international organization with more than 6,000 professionals across 27 countries specializing in the design, construction, operation and management of data centers, and a founding partner of ACOLDC (Asociación Colombiana de Data Centers y Tecnología de Datos).

“My mission is to lead an association that has a standard certifying data centers, but I didn’t see Colombia coming together to present itself as a data center hub, despite having strong technological capabilities and a geography that can be strategic for global connectivity,” she said.

-Convergencialatina: What are the concrete challenges the sector currently faces in Colombia?

-Carolina Cortés (CC): Political issues have prevented major investors from once again seeing Colombia as a country to invest in data center technology. The real problem is political and a lack of unity. We are going through a political process that affects the country’s international image, which makes investors—mostly American in data center infrastructure—hesitant to invest.

-Convergencialatina: Is there a regulatory framework supporting data center development, or are there frictions for investment?

-CC: There was an attempt to create a cybersecurity framework, but not one specific to data centers. At ACOLDC, we hold monthly technical committees for each discipline required in a data center—energy, communications, cybersecurity, air conditioning, infrastructure, among others—to draft a document to present to the president as a government policy proposal through the association. There is no framework like those in Chile or Brazil to guide data center infrastructure development.

-Convergencialatina: When will it be ready?

-CC: We plan to deliver it in September. For it to become public policy, it must be submitted to Congress through lawmakers, and Colombia is currently in a sensitive moment with presidential elections coming in August. The association will present what should be regulated in the data center sector, such as facilitating access to energy for sites, establishing real benefits for cogeneration or sustainable energy, and tax incentives for those adopting sustainability practices.

-Convergencialatina: Are these part of a broader set of priority regulatory changes to accelerate investment?

-CC: Yes. There should be tax incentives for data centers using renewable energy, preferential interest rates from banks for those seeking loans to build data centers, among others. Regardless of which party is in power, we will present this to multiple lawmakers so it becomes public policy.

-Convergencialatina: How prepared is current connectivity infrastructure to support greater data traffic?

-CC: It is not prepared, and I would say few countries are. Colombia has one of the lowest latency levels due to the number of submarine cables. But in general, it’s not easy. If I’m a connectivity operator and my competitor is another operator, I won’t share. We are advocating for operators to share the same cable infrastructure within a data center. In the past, it was not expected for a data center to buy space from a competitor, but it is happening now. This helps avoid overbuilding. It’s important to work together because resources will run out, regardless of the brand.

-Convergencialatina: Is there enough talent in Colombia?

-CC: There is specialized talent, but not enough—and this is not only in Colombia. Most data center experts are over 40 years old, so the workforce is aging. Within five years, many highly experienced professionals will leave the workforce. Data centers are not that old—they have been around for about 80 years. It is a challenge for ICREA and ACOLDC to promote awareness and education around data centers. We run webinars because there is a lack of talent, and the topic is not taught in schools. We offer scholarships. Professionals are expensive because they are scarce, so we need to make data center knowledge more accessible. This also depends on manufacturers. For example, immersion cooling is offered by a limited number of vendors, and we need them to help promote it and enable the development of technicians so it is not always costly. A data center course can cost between US$2,000 and US$20,000, and we need to make it more accessible.

-Convergencialatina: Are you looking for more members?

-CC: We are not looking—they come to us. They see it as strategic, not only as a commercial platform but also to be part of an ecosystem not only in Colombia but globally as well. If I am a data center designer and there is an event in Panama, I can expand my services there.

Each month, three new members join. In June, we will open membership to enterprise data centers, such as those of banks, retail companies, hospitals or universities. They will have voting rights within the association. What will happen globally is that to ensure connectivity, we will need edge data centers—smaller facilities, around 50 square meters. We are opening membership to these types as well; while not large, they represent an important economic segment within a country’s ecosystem, such as supermarkets.