The US company Microsoft is planning to open a data center in the central Mexican city of Querétaro, three hours' drive northwest of Mexico City. All Microsoft services for companies around the world are to be provided from there.
"It's a state-of-the-art global data center, which means it's a global center set up in Mexico to serve domestic and foreign customers," said Roberto de la Mora, Microsoft's chief technology officer (CTO). Mexico, to the Spanish news agency EFE.
Already under construction, the project in Querétaro will start with three "disposability zones", each with its own data center with a capacity of 2.4 to 3 megawatts with redundant connections and power supplies in order to be able to offer the entire Microsoft portfolio. The start of operations is planned for late 2022 or early 2023.
The company has already started hiring and expects hundreds of direct jobs in the area. "This is our build, we're not renting space to anyone, we're building new infrastructure with these world-class conditions, and we want to take advantage of that and create a world-class data center region," De la Mora said.
Investment plan for Mexico
The project is part of the $1.1 billion "Innovate for Mexico" plan that Microsoft announced in February 2020 with a five-year term. Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at the time that the investment shows interest in Mexico because the new North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA), negotiated in 2018, "gives security to companies".
Despite the creation of the data center region, Microsoft is putting most of its promised investment into its Future Skills pillar with training 145,000 students in digital skills. In addition, laboratories have been opened at various universities in the country; more are planned. Artificial intelligence programs have also been developed to protect endangered endemic shark species and forests.
"Microsoft has been operating in Mexico for 35 years, we are a company that believes in this country and we believe that driving Mexico's digital transformation must be a long-term priority for us," said De la Mora.
The attractiveness of Mexico
The US chip manufacturer Intel recently announced that it would strengthen its presence in Latin America. The company plans to expand its semiconductor production in North and South America, with Mexico playing an important role. Intel's new director for North and South America, Greg Ernst, announced in early March that the group will continue to invest in Mexico, where server products for major customers such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon will receive their final validation.
