Ascenty Invests US$1.2 Billion to Build 90MW AI-Focused Data Center in Brazil
May 27, 2026
Ascenty Invests US$1.2 Billion to Build 90MW AI-Focused Data Center in Brazil
Ascenty, a joint venture between Digital Realty and Brookfield Infrastructure, has announced a US$1.2 billion investment to develop four new data centers in Brazil, including what it describes as the country’s first large-scale facility designed from the ground up for artificial intelligence workloads. The announcement, made at an event on the company’s campus in Vinhedo, São Paulo, signals a major acceleration in Latin America’s data center market as demand for AI infrastructure surges.
The centerpiece of the expansion is Sumaré 3, a 90MW facility in the interior of São Paulo state that will feature an initial capacity dedicated entirely to AI processing. The project includes plans for an additional 90MW expansion and will encompass 48,000 square meters of built area on an already consolidated campus, with power and land secured for future growth. Construction began in March 2026, with delivery scheduled for the third quarter of 2027. Of the initial 90MW, 60MW have already been contracted by a single global technology client under a single-tenant model. According to Ascenty’s executives, the client will deploy high-electric-density infrastructure specifically for AI processing. The company declined to disclose the client’s identity, but BNamericas reported that Ascenty is in discussions with both North American and Asian big tech firms, particularly Chinese companies, some of which are new entrants to the Brazilian market.
The investment is part of a broader US$1 billion capex projection for 2026, and total spending on new projects in Brazil now stands at US$1.5 billion. Ascenty CFO Werner Süffert said the funds are already nearly fully secured through private institutions, with project finance and debenture issuance serving as the company’s preferred financing formats for large-scale projects. CEO Chris Torto noted that the investment will be deployed over the next 18 months and will add 150MW of contracted capacity, representing a 40% increase over all the capacity built by the company in its 15-year history. “In three months we closed contracts that represent 40% of everything we installed in 15 years,” Torto said, adding that signed contracts require deliveries by the end of 2027.
The Sumaré 3 facility marks a technological departure from traditional cloud data centers. While conventional racks consume around 8kW per rack, AI environments can demand between 60kW and up to 1MW per rack. To support this level of processing, Sumaré 3 will rely exclusively on liquid cooling technology, replacing conventional air cooling. The projected Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is 1.45, and the Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) is zero, as the systems operate in a closed circuit without continuous water consumption, according to CRO Marcos Siqueira. All energy used in Ascenty’s data centers comes from renewable sources, and the company maintains a self-production energy strategy. In January 2026, Ascenty announced a broad self-production contract with generator Casa dos Ventos to supply capacity for existing data centers, though that agreement does not cover the four new projects; negotiations for additional self-production deals are ongoing.
Beyond Sumaré 3, Ascenty confirmed construction of Vinhedo 3, also a single-tenant model with 90MW capacity, while Vinhedo 4 and Vinhedo 5 are in the planning stage, each expected to offer 45MW. The Vinhedo campus is undergoing a broader expansion cycle, including increasing Vinhedo 2’s capacity from 50MW to 80MW. With the evolution of these projects, the campus will host five large-scale data centers, and the company already holds land for units up to Vinhedo 10. Ascenty currently operates 26 data centers—21 in Brazil, three in Chile, and two in Mexico—and the new announcements bring its projected portfolio, including ready, under-development, and under-construction sites, to 40 units.
The project is expected to create around 600 jobs at the peak of construction and 120 permanent positions after completion. Ascenty’s executives also reiterated their support for ReData, a proposed tax incentive regime for data center investments in Brazil. While the announced projects were made viable without the program, Torto argued that the current tax environment limits the sector’s growth potential. “Customers will invest almost US$5 billion in equipment inside these data centers. Without such a high tax burden, this investment could be even greater,” he said, emphasizing that the company’s and clients’ investments in the four projects do not depend on ReData. He highlighted Brazil’s competitive advantages for digital infrastructure, including renewable energy availability, energy costs lower than those in the United States, international connectivity, and a large consumer market.
Ascenty also addressed global supply chain challenges, noting that average construction time for a data center has risen from nine months to between 12 and 18 months due to high global demand for equipment and recent geopolitical impacts. Negotiations for liquid cooling infrastructure suppliers are still underway, with Vertiv and Schneider Electric among potential providers; Vertiv is already the main supplier of electrical and cooling systems for the Vinhedo 2 data center.
Source: bnamericas
