en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Mexican Data Center Association (MEXDC) announced that Mexico will receive $82.5 billion in investments in data center construction and equipment between 2026 and 2031. Adriana Rivera, Executive Director of the association, stated that related construction activities are expected to generate 98,366 direct and indirect jobs, along with an additional 35,430 operational positions. This investment plan comes amid a shift in North American infrastructure demand driven by AI, cloud computing, and nearshoring expansion.
The expansion of Mexico's data center industry is driven by structural changes in the supply chain and regional integration. At FibraDay 2026, industry executives described it as "Nearshoring 2.0." A panel moderated by Lyman Daniels, President of CBRE, noted that nearshoring is essentially a structural redesign of the North American production network, rather than a cyclical relocation trend. This shift directly increases demand for digital infrastructure, particularly in industrial corridors where energy, water, and connectivity determine investment feasibility. Gonzalo Robina, General Manager of Fibra UNO, stated that approximately 85% of the region's products are consumed within North America, reflecting the depth of integration and the resulting infrastructure needs. In this context, data centers are viewed as core infrastructure assets, with investment decisions tied to long-term industrial and logistics planning.
According to MEXDC data, Mexico has an installed data center capacity of 279 MW, with 205 MW under construction and 1,730 MW announced for future deployment. Rivera stated that the system requires approximately 1.7 GW of additional energy capacity to meet expected demand. Energy availability is becoming a major constraint on expansion. At the 2026 Mexico Energy Forum, Héctor Sánchez, Director of IBX Operations at Equinix, stated that developers first assess energy availability and transmission capacity before acquiring land. Capital expenditure is increasingly directed toward private substations and on-site power generation systems to ensure operational continuity. Sánchez noted that hyperscale workloads require stable loads, such as a continuous 40 MW power supply, which cannot be reliably supported in regions with unstable grids or frequent emergency load-shedding events. Industry data shows that over 60% of Mexico's transmission network operates near maximum capacity, with bottlenecks concentrated in Bajío, Nuevo León, and northern border states. In May 2024, grid reserve capacity fell to approximately 3%, below the regulatory threshold of 6% required for stable operation.
MEXDC reports that Mexico's planned $82.5 billion investment in data center infrastructure is expected to generate an additional $61.9 billion in economic impact from related ecosystem development. The association emphasizes that the industry has expanded rapidly since 2019, accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic when connectivity demand increased. Rivera stated that Mexico is structurally positioned to support data center development due to an expanded skilled labor base following USMCA. The country borders the world's largest data center market, the United States, which has 5,427 facilities, compared to approximately 50 in Mexico. Rivera noted that installation costs are about four times higher than in Brazil, primarily due to the complexity of the power system and regulatory structure.
Regulatory timelines are affecting competitiveness. MEXDC estimates that licensing, construction, and equipment installation take approximately five years to bring a facility into operation. Rivera stated that lengthy licensing timelines reduce Mexico's competitiveness and require regulatory improvements. The current distribution of data centers shows that Querétaro accounts for 72% of capacity, followed by Mexico City and its metropolitan area at 10%, Nuevo León at 9%, Jalisco at 5%, Guanajuato at 3%, and Yucatán at 1%. In Querétaro alone, companies have invested approximately $600 million in additional infrastructure to stabilize energy supply. Energy constraints also limit the deployment of advanced digital applications. Rivera stated that Mexico currently lacks data center infrastructure capable of supporting AI-scale operations, which typically require dedicated capacity exceeding 250 MW. She noted that the largest operational facility in Mexico is located in Pedro Escobedo, Querétaro, with a running power of 149 MW, below the threshold required for large-scale AI training environments. This limitation also affects latency-sensitive applications such as autonomous vehicles and telemedicine systems.
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