DistantNews
Support us
Brazil's Elea to invest $550 million in Rio AI City data center complex
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Technology

Brazil's Elea to invest $550 million in Rio AI City data center complex

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency New plan
  • Brazilian company Elea Data Centers will invest $550 million to develop Rio AI City, a data center complex focused on artificial intelligence.
  • The project aims to make Rio de Janeiro a top global hub for the sector by 2032, with potential to attract $65 billion in investments and create over 10,000 jobs.
  • The investment is part of Elea's acquisition by U.S. fund I Squared Capital and includes a cooperation agreement with Rio de Janeiro's city government.

Brazilian firm Elea Data Centers is set to invest $550 million to establish Rio AI City, a major artificial intelligence-focused data center complex in Rio de Janeiro. This ambitious project aims to position the city as the world's tenth-largest data center hub by 2032.

The contribution is part of the first phase of the company's acquisition by the U.S. fund I Squared Capital.

— EFEExplaining the financial backing for the Rio AI City project.

The investment, facilitated by the acquisition of Elea by U.S. fund I Squared Capital, will accelerate the expansion of Elea's existing digital infrastructure, which includes ten data centers across Brazil. The initial phase will focus on the development of Rio AI City, planned for the Olympic Park area.

The projected AI hub in Rio de Janeiro includes the construction of a large data center complex in the Olympic Park.

— EFEDescribing the physical location and scale of the Rio AI City project.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, Elea CEO Alessandro Lombardi, and representatives of CCPar, formalizing a 36-month cooperation for the project's implementation. This includes institutional coordination, technical studies, resource mobilization, and attracting public and private partners.

The agreement provides for institutional coordination, elaboration of technical studies, mobilization of resources, and attraction of public and private partners.

— EFEDetailing the cooperation between Elea, the city government, and other entities for the project.

Elea projects that Rio AI City will have an initial capacity of 1.5 gigawatts, expandable to 3 GW by 2032. The complex will leverage the operational RJO1 data center and add new facilities for AI and cloud computing. The initiative is expected to draw nearly $65 billion in investments over the next decade, create over 10,000 skilled jobs, and bolster the local tech ecosystem by attracting global companies, research centers, and startups. Lombardi noted that the $550 million is just the first stage of funding, with significantly more resources needed for full development. He also highlighted existing commercial interest from major U.S. tech firms, with the complex to be powered entirely by renewable energy.

The complex will be developed from the RJO1 data center, already operational, and will add new facilities for artificial intelligence and cloud computing loads.

— EFEOutlining the infrastructure development plans for Rio AI City.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog