SANTIAGO – Chile and Argentina compete to host Amazon’s Latin-America data center. As none of the countries wants to let this opportunity slip, Amazon will surely emerge as the winner.
The US company headquartered in Seattle is looking for a place for its new Latin-America data center. Chile and Argentina emerged as possible solutions and so they are engaging in a race toward the US$1 billion investment. Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri offers tax benefits, while Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera wants to subsidy Amazon with up to US$9 million via state development agency Corfo.
Although Amazon has not mentioned the exact location for its data base, it is known that it favors South America because of low costs and fast internet speed, which would serve its expanding cloud business in the region. For Corfo vice-president Eduardo Bitran the benefits would be considerably higher than the costs to catch Amazon.
Chile as frontrunner
Argentine news outlet La Voz reported that Amazon recognized Chile as a better option, due to a solid economy and better business climate. Nevertheless, Amazon has an agreement with Argentina’s modernization ministry. The agreement came in an effort to spur the modernization of IT infrastructure and Amazon is recruiting personnel for eight full-time jobs for its cloud business.
Having Amazon’s cloud infrastructure nearby helps tech companies to reduce costs and improve speed. Amazon makes most of its money in the US, Germany, the UK, and Japan. It also has plans to expand its electronics business to Brazil.
Editor-In-Chief Boris van der Spek is the founder of Chile Today.