RIO DE JANEIRO, Might 30 (IPS) – Brazil hopes to quickly reap advantages of its largely renewable power matrix. Information facilities, whose demand is rising with the strides made by synthetic intelligence, are the brand new frontier for these still-uncertain investments.
That is even a matter of “digital sovereignty,” not only for Brazil, based on Dora Kaufman, a professor in this system on clever applied sciences and digital design on the Pontifical Catholic College of Sao Paulo.
Almost 60% of all Brazilian information processing presently takes place in america—and the determine continues to rise—posing a critical threat, as a pure catastrophe or authorities blockade might paralyze the nation, she warned. “The likelihood of it occurring is low, however the impression can be enormous,” she advised IPS by cellphone from São Paulo.
The Nationwide Information Heart Coverage is anticipated to alter this situation, based on the Brazilian authorities, which has promised to quickly unveil this system. Its potential might entice two trillion reais (round US$350 billion) over the following 10 years, claims Finance Minister Fernando Haddad.
Exemptions from federal taxes and lowered import duties on tools are among the many incentives the federal government will supply buyers. These measures anticipate insurance policies already outlined within the not too long ago accredited tax reform, which can totally take impact by 2033.
The abundance of renewable power, water, and land might additionally function a serious attract a world more and more demanding sustainability in new initiatives.
Excessive Prices in Brazil
Processing information in Brazil is 25% dearer than overseas, primarily as a result of tax burden, famous Kaufman. Eradicating this impediment would pave the way in which for a surge in information facilities, as “we’ve greater than sufficient renewable power and water,” she argued.
“Brazil has all the things it takes to host many information facilities, and the challenges are solvable. We want them not simply to develop synthetic intelligence but in addition for the rising digitalization of presidency and companies,” she emphasised.
Nonetheless, the voracious power and water calls for of digital infrastructure—particularly for AI—are elevating considerations amongst environmentalists and specialists in power and communications.
“Brazil first must implement an actual power transition. Thus far, we’ve solely added renewable sources alongside fossil fuels. A simply transition stays an enormous problem, requiring the electrification of transport—a precedence as a result of local weather disaster,” stated Alexandre Costa, a professor on the Federal College of Ceará in northeastern Brazil.
TikTok plans to arrange a knowledge middle in Caucaia, a metropolis of 355,000 residents in Ceará. Simply 35 kilometers away, the Pecém port—which incorporates an industrial zone—has plans for a inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing hub, one other main shopper of water and electrical energy.
Pecém already hosts a thermoelectric plant and a metal mill, each of that are extremely water-intensive.
Fossil Fuels Nonetheless Dominate
The Northeast, Brazil’s poorest area, has turn into a gorgeous location for initiatives claiming to be sustainable, as it’s already the nation’s largest wind energy producer and holds huge potential for photo voltaic power.
Nonetheless, the exploitation of sturdy, regular winds and ample daylight has already sparked criticism and protests from native communities. The growth of those initiatives is encroaching on growing quantities of land, creating conflicts with native populations and small-scale farming, famous Costa, a physicist specializing in meteorology and local weather change.
Nationally, renewable sources accounted for 86.1% of electrical energy consumption in 2022, based on the federal government’s Vitality Analysis Firm. Nonetheless, fossil fuels nonetheless made up 52.7% of Brazil’s complete power matrix, dominated by oil and pure fuel, whereas coal held a small 4.4% share.
This implies Brazil, the place freight transport continues to be closely reliant on diesel vans, nonetheless has a protracted solution to go in lowering fossil gas consumption. This transition would require much more electrical energy.
Information facilities will deliver extra power demand to an economic system already anticipating a surge in consumption—pushed by inexperienced hydrogen initiatives, synthetic intelligence, and car electrification, Costa warned IPS in a cellphone interview from Fortaleza, Ceará’s capital.
The identical applies to water sources. “There’s no solution to meet an infinite demand for these inputs,” he harassed. In his view, Brazil lacks an power mannequin that balances new calls for, priorities, and the necessity for an more and more clear power matrix.
Dependence
“Probably the most critical problem within the authorities’s program is that it goals to subsidize information facilities for Huge Techs. We want them for our nationwide networks, but they’re proposing to usher in information facilities for Google, Fb, Microsoft, and many others., with all the advantages,” criticized Carlos Afonso, a communications know-how knowledgeable and one of many pioneers of the web in Brazil.
He pointed to the shortage of such infrastructure for public entities like Serpro (Information Processing Service) and Dataprev (social safety database), that are very important for presidency operations, in addition to the Nationwide Analysis Community that connects universities and different scientific and innovation establishments.
“Will they should depend on information facilities from these Huge Techs in Brazil?” he questioned in a dialog with IPS.
It seems that each the federal government’s program for this sector and its inexperienced hydrogen initiative are primarily designed to fulfill exterior calls for, with the purpose of making exportable items and companies.
That is why Kaufman argues for imposing situations on information facilities established in Brazil, reminiscent of sustainability primarily based on renewable power and nil greenhouse fuel emissions, power effectivity, and allocating not less than 10% of put in capability to the home market.
The knowledgeable believes that the big information facilities to be put in in Brazil will primarily serve AI coaching, which minimizes latency, the milliseconds of delay in long-distance communication from origin to vacation spot.
However the actuality—each in Brazil and globally—within the digital economic system is one in all deep dependence on america, a state of affairs exacerbated by the insurance policies of President Donald Trump, who prioritized the pursuits of america above all else, even worldwide treaties.
“Three Huge Tech firms from america—AWS/Amazon, Microsoft, and Google—management 63% of worldwide information processing, forming a real oligopoly,” emphasised Kaufman. That dominance is anticipated to develop to 80%, she added.
In keeping with the worldwide statistics portal Statista, as of March 2025, america had 5,426 information facilities—greater than 10 occasions the quantity in Germany (529), the UK (523), or China (449).
The imbalance is even starker in hyperscale information facilities, these occupying greater than 930 sq. meters and housing over 5,000 servers. By the tip of 2024, america accounted for 54% of worldwide processing capability, in comparison with 16% for China and 15% for Europe, based on Synergy Analysis Group.
In 2024 alone, 137 new information facilities had been constructed—a 13.7% development fee—in a pattern anticipated to proceed, pushed largely by developments in synthetic intelligence, notes the analytics and consulting agency primarily based in america.
The infrastructure powering the digital economic system, already connecting two-thirds of humanity and increasing quickly with improvements like cloud computing and AI, stays largely unseen.
Whereas cables, together with intercontinental submarine strains, satellites, and telecom networks are well-known, information facilities—the “brains” that retailer, course of, and distribute data—function in relative obscurity. But, they’ve turn into large and strategically crucial as world information site visitors surges exponentially.
© Inter Press Service (2025) — All Rights Reserved. Authentic supply: Inter Press Service
