ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is weighing a major investment in a data centre in Brazil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, tapping abundant wind energy on the country’s northeast coast.
The company is in talks to partner with renewable energy producer Casa dos Ventos to develop a facility in the Pecem port complex in the state of Ceara, two of the sources said, requesting anonymity to comment on confidential negotiations.
The discussions come as Latin America’s largest economy seeks to position itself as a global hub for the fast-growing data centre industry, leveraging its ample renewable energy.
One of the sources said initial talks are focused on a 300-megawatt (MW) data centre, but the project could eventually expand to 900MW in a second phase. A second source said total demand for the project could approach 1 gigawatt.
The project would make Brazil a pillar of the Chinese company’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. In February, ByteDance announced plans to invest US$8.8 billion in data centres in Thailand over five years.
