Amazon has announced an investment exceeding $5 billion in a new data center in Mexico, as reported by both the government and the company on Tuesday. This investment comes amid anticipated protectionist measures in North America following Donald Trump's inauguration.
Paula Bellizia, the head of Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Latin America, stated during a press conference with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, "The investment by Amazon Web Services of over $5 billion... demonstrates our holistic commitment to Mexico."
This announcement follows the launch of the economic initiative known as Plan Mexico, aimed at boosting domestic production by replacing Chinese imports that currently supply North America's industrial chain. The plan includes potential investments of $277 billion.
Sheinbaum expressed optimism about the future of Mexico, stating, "The investment announced today shows that Mexico not only has a great present but a great future."
Bellizia emphasized that AWS is "the largest and most widely used cloud computing platform globally," and the new data center aims to establish a new "digital region" to enhance its presence in Latin America.
According to Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, the new data center is expected to create around 7,000 high-skilled full-time jobs and contribute over $10 billion to Mexico's GDP over the next 15 years.
The facility will be located in Querétaro, a significant industrial and logistics hub approximately 200 kilometers northwest of Mexico City. This state is already home to data centers from other major industry players, including Google.
Ebrard expressed optimism about the growth of the data and technology sector in Mexico, noting that Amazon's investment complements that of Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which announced plans in October to build the world's largest plant for manufacturing Nvidia's GB200 superchips designed for AI servers.
"Data management is likely to become one of the sectors contributing the most quality jobs to Mexico, without a doubt," Ebrard concluded.