Argentina’s Régimen de Demandas Extratendenciales requires major data-centre projects to provide and pay for their own energy. Javier Milei, meanwhile, promotes the country’s land, water and cheap energy to digital companies. The regime, established last month within the wholesale electricity market, aims to prevent pressure on existing infrastructure and protect uninterrupted supplies for households, small and medium-sized enterprises and businesses.
Projects and promises
Argentina has 67 registered data centres, according to the Tengo Data observatory: 52 operational facilities, one under construction, 13 announced projects and one cancelled project. Those announced investment plans aren’t all confirmed commitments.
Milei presents data centres as a potential source of billions of dollars in investment and economic development. At the United Nations, he said the government’s strategy is to open Argentina’s doors to major digital infrastructure projects.
OpenAI and Sur Energy signed a Letter of Intent in October 2025 for a proposed data centre in Patagonia, with a potential investment of up to US$25 billion. No final investment decision has been confirmed, and no one has verified the location.
Poland’s Green Capital announced plans in July 2026 for a data centre in Trelew, Chubut Province. The company says its first phase is intended to provide 300 megawatts, with a final target of 3,000 megawatts for technological infrastructure. It aims to conclude discussions with investors and potential clients by 2027, with construction projected to begin in 2028.
These projects need substantial electricity. Data centres house servers, storage systems and networking equipment that process, store and distribute information. Demand for their services has grown with digital services and artificial intelligence, which require more processing and storage capacity and, above all, more energy.
Who pays for power and resources
The XDEM regime assigns major projects responsibility for providing and paying for their own energy supply. It aims to shield existing electricity infrastructure and maintain uninterrupted service for households, SMEs and businesses.
Critics warn that data centres consume large amounts of resources while creating relatively few jobs. Others support investment but want a clear regulatory framework that protects the environment and considers political and social implications. The source doesn’t specify how many jobs the announced projects would create or provide confirmed final investment amounts for them.
National deputy Juan Marino of Unión por la Patria-Buenos Aires Province has called for public debate in places where hyperscale facilities are proposed. “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.
Resistance and the build-out
In the United States, opposition to data-centre expansion has become a local election issue. On July 18, 142 protests took place across 42 states. By September 2026, Data Center Watch counted 843 local opposition groups across 49 states.
During the first half of 2026, more than 120 U.S. projects, with an estimated combined value of nearly US$200 billion, faced blocks or delays. Proposals for moratoria came forward in 14 states, while governments debated how electricity and supply-infrastructure costs should be shared between major consumers and other users.
Argentina’s projects are unevenly distributed. Buenos Aires City has 18 entries in the Tengo Data register and Buenos Aires Province has 10, together accounting for 28 facilities, or 42 percent of the total. Neuquén Province has 12 entries. Of the 13 projects listed, seven are in Neuquén, two in Chubut and two in Buenos Aires Province; one names Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut as possible locations, while another is associated with the Malvinas Islands, which the UK calls the Falkland Islands.
CABASE, chaired by Ariel Graizer, is compiling a separate register of facilities serving third parties. It has identified 14 facilities with capacity above 1 megawatt and nearly 32 megawatts of combined installed capacity. Graizer said some facilities need to sit close to users because distance affects latency, while centres used to train artificial-intelligence models can be farther from major cities. Short distances matter. So does the power supply.