Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna concluded a five-day tour of Beijing and Shanghai on August 22, 2026, actively courting Chinese capital for investment across Chile's economy, even as local communities resist new projects over critical water resources. The visit, framed around artificial intelligence and digital economy cooperation, saw no concrete technology treaties signed. Instead, it laid groundwork for further surplus extraction by international corporations.
Who Profits
Pérez Mackenna met with high-ranking Chinese officials including Wang Yi, vice-premier He Lifeng, NDRC vice-minister Zhou Haibing, and science minister Yin Hejun. A ‘Choose Chile’ session in Beijing brought together executives from China’s largest companies. Discussions spanned mining, agrifood, energy, infrastructure, telecoms, and banking, signaling broad opportunities for foreign capital. Bilateral trade between Chile and China reached US$67.1 billion in 2025.
Chile has actively marketed itself as the ‘data hub of the Americas’, leveraging its abundant solar and wind generation in the north, cold water, and stable geology in the south. Huawei already operates two data centers in the country and has announced a third, valued at approximately US$100 million. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have also committed capacity.
The mining sector presents an even larger target for capital accumulation. Cochilco’s 2025–2034 investment portfolio stands at about US$104.5 billion, marking the biggest pipeline in more than a decade. The CBC reports US$87.7 billion in investment projects for 2026–2030, with 41% specifically allocated to mining. China remains the primary buyer of Chile's copper.
Who Pays
Despite the promise of massive investment, the digital agenda's visible effects will be industrial, not consumer-focused, with limited benefits for the working class. New data centers, once constructed, employ few people. The primary impacts will be temporary construction jobs, increased electricity demand, and intensified pressure on water rights.
Data center projects near Santiago have already faced significant permitting resistance due to their substantial water usage. Chile’s environmental assessment system, designed to be slow, reflects underlying community struggles against the privatization of commons.
Economy and Mining Minister Daniel Mas, speaking at a Clapes UC seminar on August 13, pushed for an annual copper production target of six million tonnes. This target, aimed at "unlocking investment" and achieving "higher productivity," signals a drive for increased wage suppression and intensified labor exploitation, rather than improved conditions for workers. Chile produced 5.415 million tonnes in 2025.
The State's Role
The Kast government actively facilitates this foreign investment. Since taking office in March, 16 mining projects, collectively valued at around US$24 billion, have entered environmental review. This figure represents over 83% of all national submissions, demonstrating the state's prioritization of capital interests.
The state also navigates imperial rivalries. While deepening ties with China, its largest single trading partner, Chile simultaneously manages tariff friction with the United States. The peso closed weaker at about 925 to the US dollar on August 20, following a central bank report of a 0.2% year-on-year fall in second-quarter GDP.
The government's strategic decisions on infrastructure further reveal its alignment with dominant capital. The China Mobile-backed Chile–China Express cable, intended to run from Hong Kong to Valparaíso, remains "frozen" by the defense and foreign ministries. Meanwhile, the Humboldt transpacific fiber link, a Google joint venture with the Chilean state agency Desarrollo País, was approved in June and is slated for laying this year, connecting to Sydney rather than Asia. This selective advancement of projects underscores the state's role in securing specific corporate and geopolitical interests.