Argentina’s national Energy Secretariat now requires major data-centre projects to provide and pay for their own energy supply, as Javier Milei promotes the country to major digital companies. The stated aim is to protect uninterrupted electricity for households, small and medium-sized enterprises, and businesses. The rules arrive as the government pushes to attract infrastructure that needs large amounts of energy.
National deputy Juan Marino (Unión por la Patria-Buenos Aires Province) pointed to community organizing in response to the proposed projects. “We must take inspiration from the example of that popular mobilisation. We propose convening regional assemblies in the provinces and municipalities where these hyperscale data centres are intended to be built. We cannot allow our land, water and energy to be used to power the artificial intelligence that American monopolies use for Trump's wars,” he said. The assemblies remain a proposal; no reports say they have taken place.
Who Gets the Energy
Milei is selling Argentina as a technology hub, citing its land, water, cheap energy and the prospect of a legal framework tailored to major digital companies. At the United Nations, he said the government’s strategy is to open Argentina’s doors to major digital infrastructure projects. He presents data centres as a potential source of billions of dollars in investment and economic development, but announced plans aren’t final investment decisions.
Tengo Data’s observatory counts 67 registered data centres: 52 operational facilities, one under construction, 13 announced projects and one cancelled project. Nine operational or publicly announced facilities are associated with artificial intelligence: six hyperscale projects, two involving high-performance computing infrastructure and one operational facility documented as “AI-ready.” A data centre holds servers, storage systems and networking equipment. Demand for processing, storage and energy has risen with the expansion of digital services and artificial intelligence.
The distribution is uneven. Buenos Aires City has 18 entries and Buenos Aires Province has 10, together accounting for 28 facilities, or 42 percent of the register. Neuquén Province has 12. Seven of the 13 listed projects are in Neuquén, two in Chubut and two in Buenos Aires Province. Several projects don’t have a defined or disclosed location.
Promises, Not Final Investments
In October 2025, shortly before Argentina’s midterm elections, OpenAI and Sur Energy signed a Letter of Intent for a proposed Patagonia data centre, with a potential investment of up to US$25 billion. No final investment decision has been confirmed, and the location hasn’t been verified. The announcement offers a headline-sized number. The commitment remains unconfirmed.
In July 2026, Poland’s Green Capital announced plans for a data centre in Trelew, Chubut Province. The company says the first phase is intended to provide 300 megawatts, with a final target of 3,000 MW for technological infrastructure. It aims to conclude discussions with investors and potential clients by 2027, while construction is projected to begin in 2028.
Pablo Serdán, a lawyer and lecturer at the University of Buenos Aires, developed the Tengo Data observatory using verifiable material, including news reports, official bulletins, company press releases, environmental impact assessments and other public documents. The Cámara Argentina de Internet (CABASE), chaired by Ariel Graizer, is compiling a separate register of facilities serving third parties. It has identified 14 facilities with capacity above 1 MW and a combined installed capacity of nearly 32 MW.
The Pushback Is Already Organized
On July 18, 142 protests against data-centre expansion took place across 42 U.S. states. Data Center Watch counted 843 local opposition groups across 49 states by September 2026. During the first half of 2026, more than 120 U.S. projects, with an estimated combined value of nearly US$200 billion, were blocked or delayed. Proposals for moratoria were put forward in 14 states. Governments debated how electricity and supply-infrastructure costs should be shared between major consumers and other users.
Graizer described why some facilities cluster near people: “Some data centres need to be close to people because latency has to be lower. The ubiquity of the Internet means the little spinning wheel doesn't freeze and you can scroll quickly through TikTok or Instagram.” Facilities used to train AI models can sit farther from major cities, and the report describes Patagonia as attractive to technology companies.
Milei’s supporters say Argentina has little influence over the technology competition between the United States and China and should create conditions for data centres to be built locally. Critics warn of high resource consumption and relatively few jobs. Others support investment but want a regulatory framework that protects the environment and considers political and social implications. The state is opening the door; whether people living with the projects get a say is the question Marino’s proposed assemblies put on the table.