Latin America’s digital infrastructure is reaching a turning point. The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, demand for minimal latency and data sovereignty frameworks are reshaping the design, construction and sustainability of data centers across the region, said Carolina Cortés, CEO of certification body ICREA.
The arrival of AI workloads has transformed energy requirements. While traditional data centers were designed for average rack densities of 4.5 kW, current deployments for GPU clusters require up to 200 kW per cabinet. This leap is forcing operators to accelerate deployment times — from two years to as little as eight months — through modular architectures and rapidly scalable containerized solutions.
At the same time, site selection must balance thermal efficiency and physical resilience. Climate variations caused by El Niño, seismic risks exceeding magnitude 7.0 and physical security threats arising from social unrest, with three documented cases of affected facilities, require operators to address structural vulnerabilities at the design stage, moving beyond the notion that availability depends exclusively on electricity supply.
Unlike in the United States, regional regulations prevent customers from contracting two electricity providers for the same site. This restriction has driven a strategic solution: on-site power generation using a mix of solar, wind and gas. Cases such as Claro Colombia’s operations in free trade zones and wind farms in Brazil demonstrate how the Latin American industry is leading in self-consumption and operational continuity, Cortés said.
Regarding cooling, Cortés seeks to dispel misconceptions about water consumption. The adoption of closed-loop systems using treated and recycled water allows two tons of water to be continuously recirculated for up to 10 years, eliminating the water consumption attributed to the sector. “However, water consumption remains a major source of public and social discontent with data centers because people are unaware of the reality,” Cortés stressed.
Despite the scale of hyperscalers, the ecosystem remains heavily dependent on the Enterprise and Edge segments. Facilities ranging from 50 to 150 m2 are essential for complying with data sovereignty laws in banking and government, such as those enforced by Colombia’s DIAN and Mexico’s SAT. Similarly, telemedicine platforms involving robotic surgery in Colombia, Chile and Costa Rica, virtual education programs, gaming and online betting rely on these proximity nodes to ensure the lowest possible latency.
Bottlenecks. The sector faces bottlenecks in talent and regulation. Tax incentives such as Redata in Brazil and free trade zones in Colombia are setting the standard for tax exemptions on imported equipment. Meanwhile, the shortage of qualified engineers has prompted operators such as KIO to launch direct training programs, as well as initiatives such as ICREA Kids.
Cortés said that in 2027, ICREA will step up its free regional seminars with manufacturers such as Vertiv, Panduit, CommScope and Eaton to strengthen technical training across Latin America.