Argentina's plans to become a regional AI hub

The business community and the government of President Javier Milei are united in efforts to turn Argentina into a regional AI hub.

“It is key to business strategy. Artificial intelligence, especially with the emergence of generative AI, is radically transforming the way companies operate and compete in the global market,” Guillermo Meyer, VP of technology at Globant Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, told BNamericas.

The government, meanwhile, is seeking to boost technological development, including the creation of a nuclear power plan to provide sufficient energy.

“We have plenty of energy, plenty of cold and inhospitable lands, and plenty of quality human resources. Not without reason are we the country with the most technological unicorns per capita in the region. These three factors combined form a perfect storm to attract high-level investments in artificial intelligence,” Milei said during a speech on the first anniversary of his government on December 10.

The government launched an AI working group earlier this year together with the private sector. The group is led by the science and technology department and coordinated jointly with the strategic affairs office.

“Argentina has a digital ecosystem with a great innovative spirit and local companies are already working to understand the best way to use [AI] to boost business,” Natalia Scaliter, general manager of Google Cloud Argentina, told BNamericas.

According to a survey conducted by Google together with GlobalData, 72% of organizations globally agree that AI will be key and 62% are considering investing in this technology.

AWS Argentina head Sofía Guidotti is upbeat about 2025. “At AWS, we see a future where more and more Argentines will be using cloud technology and generative artificial intelligence to transform governments and companies,” she told journalists during the company's recent Re:invent event.

“Artificial intelligence is not only a technological tool, but also an opportunity to redefine Argentina's productive model, taking advantage of its unique capabilities in human talent, innovation and a robust scientific-technological ecosystem,” the institutional relations head of business chamber Argencon, Luis Galeazzi, said in a recent press release.

Scaliter highlighted that the agricultural sector is most promising, as producers could optimize operations by taking advantage of data from machinery connected to IoT devices.

Roadblocks

To boost AI locally, Argencon urges improvements in educational quality and promotion of STEM subjects, as well as establishing a regulatory framework that facilitates innovation and eliminates barriers to investment.

According to Argencon, around 150,000 jobs are linked to IT areas in the country.

Scaliter said a main task companies need to take on is the modernization of legacy systems, which involves growing based on decades-old on-premise infrastructure and applications. “This situation is especially present in companies with a longer tradition and renown that were developed with previous technology and that today seek to continue innovating,” she said.

“The potential of AI requires a combination of diverse technical and interpersonal skills and continuous learning to keep up with constant changes and innovations,” Scaliter added.

According to data shared by Globant, the World Economic Forum highlighted that 97mn jobs will be generated globally in 2025 thanks to AI, including roles such as AI architects, machine learning engineers and data scientists.

Datacenters

Argentina must also attract datacenters and build connectivity infrastructure to fuel its AI boom, but energy supply is still not solved.

According to market sources, at least one datacenter project is experiencing difficulties in finding land with sufficient power availability.

The government's nuclear power plan would address the issue, although many current AI applications can run via public cloud services in other markets.

Google Cloud's Argentina services are supplied from its cloud zones in Brazil and Chile, and the company has invested in projects like the Firmina cable to improve services.

AWS, meanwhile, has a local cloud infrastructure, and more providers are considering investing in datacenters in Argentina.