By Leticia Fucuchima, Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) -ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is weighing a major investment in a data center in Brazil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, tapping abundant wind energy on the country’s northeast coast.
The company is in talks to partner with renewable energy producer Casa dos Ventos to develop a facility in the Pecem port complex in the state of Ceara, two of the sources said, requesting anonymity to comment on confidential negotiations.
The discussions come as Latin America’s largest economy seeks to position itself as a global hub for the fast-growing data center industry, leveraging its ample renewable energy.
One of the sources said initial talks are focused on a 300-megawatt (MW) data center, but the project could eventually expand to 900 MW in a second phase. A second source said total demand for the project could approach 1 gigawatt.
The project would make Brazil a pillar of the Chinese company’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. In February, ByteDance announced plans to invest $8.8 billion in data centers in Thailand over five years.
TikTok declined to comment on its plans in Brazil.
Pecem is considered a location for Brazilian data centers due to nearby submarine cable landing stations and the concentration of renewable power generation in the region.
Casa dos Ventos, which partnered in 2022 with TotalEnergies on its wind power portfolio, has already requested grid connection for a data center project in Pecem. Brazil’s national grid operator ONS initially denied it due to stability concerns, given the heavy demands of such facilities.
Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry is now assessing the possibility of allowing more grid capacity for data center projects in Pecem and other areas, two of the sources said.
TikTok and the ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance could not be reached.
Casa dos Ventos declined to comment on the talks with ByteDance, but said in a statement that it is “committed to turning the Pecem port into a hub for technological innovation and energy transition.”
“The company is developing the country’s largest data center and green hydrogen project, which will be powered by renewable energy from its portfolio. In developing both projects, it is evaluating partnership opportunities with companies that can support their implementation,” the company said.
(Reporting by Leticia Fucuchima in Sao Paulo and Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram in BrasiliaAdditional reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Fabio Teixeira in Rio de JaneiroEditing by Marguerita Choy)
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