TikTok, a short video app from Chinese company ByteDance, will invest more than 200 billion Brazilian reais (equivalent to 37.7 billion US dollars) to build a data center. In Brazil, it is its first project in Latin America.
TikTok will collaborate with data center developer Omnia and Casa dos Ventos, one of Brazil’s leading renewable energy suppliers, at a facility in the northeastern state of Ceara, Monica Ghez, TikTok Brazil’s public policy director, said on Wednesday.
He added that the project, which will be developed near the Besim industrial port, will rely entirely on clean energy from wind farms.
– This is a historic investment for the company in Brazil – said Mónica at an event held in Ceara and attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. — It is a key step that reflects the company’s commitment to Brazil, one of the most dynamic digital markets in the world.
Brazil is considered the best country in the region to benefit from the global investment boom Data centers To enhance artificial intelligence, through the presence of diverse sources of renewable energy, an interconnected national network, and the fastest fiber-optic cables in the region.
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The port of Becem is located near a large hub for submarine cables that connect to the city of Fortaleza, providing one of the shortest routes from Brazil to Europe and Africa.
The investments in BESIM form part of Lula’s broader ambitions related to artificial intelligence. In September, he signed a temporary measure to provide incentives to companies looking to build data centers in Brazil, including allowing companies to import some equipment tax-free.
– I am convinced that this data center will be something extraordinary for the technological development of this country – said Lula after the announcement. – It can serve as an example for other data centers in other parts of Brazil.
TikTok has been strengthening its ties with Brazil while the company has so far failed to come up with a plan to save its service from being banned in the United States. The Chinese government promised a month ago to work with Washington to resolve the future of TikTok’s operations in the United States, but stopped short of supporting the deal sponsored by President Donald Trump to separate the crown jewel of ByteDance into a new project majority controlled by American investors.
Under the US security law signed by former President Joe Biden last year — the Protecting Americans from Censored Apps from Foreign Adversaries Act — Beijing-based ByteDance was required to sell TikTok in the United States or face a ban in the country. The initial deadline was January 2025, but Trump extended it several times in an attempt to reach an agreement.