Chinese technology firms Huawei Technologies and ByteDance are planning investments in Brazil’s cloud and AI sectors. These developments occur amid US concerns over China’s expanding digital influence in Latin America.

According to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Huawei is close to finalizing a deal with Dataprev, a state-owned company that manages Brazil’s social data systems, to use its data centers.

The company is also in talks with Edge UOL, a cloud services unit of Grupo UOL PagSeguro, for potential collaboration.

Meetings between Huawei and Edge UOL executives reportedly took place in May 2025 in Dongguan, China. Participants included Brazil’s digital governance secretary, Ricardo Leite, and Mark Chen, president of Huawei Cloud for Latin America.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is exploring data center projects in Brazil. This includes a potential collaboration with renewable energy provider Casa dos Ventos for a 300-megawatt facility in Ceará, which may be expanded in the future.

The interest from Chinese tech firms follows a 2024 cooperation agreement on AI signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Brazil. The agreement focused on joint platform development, training, and addressing risks related to AI.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Brazil’s strategic positioning as a renewable-powered AI hub attracts competitive tech investments

Brazil has emerged as a critical battleground in the US-China tech competition largely due to its renewable energy advantage, with 93.6% renewable electricity generation making it particularly attractive for power-hungry AI infrastructure 1.

The country has returned to the ranks of the top ten global technology powers with US$50 billion in investments and now holds 37.2% of Latin America’s technology investments, reflecting its growing importance in the global tech landscape 2.

This positioning explains why both Chinese companies and US firms are aggressively investing. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have made significant commitments to Brazilian data centers, while Huawei and ByteDance are now following suit 1.

Brazil’s deliberate “strategic non-alignment” policy allows it to maintain relationships with both superpowers while pursuing economic development, essentially using the tech rivalry to attract maximum investment without taking sides 3.

The projected growth of Brazil’s data center market to US$5.96 billion by 2029 highlights why the country has become a focal point for tech competition between Beijing and Washington 1.

2️⃣ China’s Latin American investment strategy evolves from resources to digital infrastructure

Chinese investments in Latin America have undergone a significant transformation, evolving from primarily resource extraction to a more sophisticated focus on technology and digital infrastructure.