The south america data center real estate market size is projected to expand from USD 3 billion in 2025 and USD 3.13 billion in 2026 to USD 4.42 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 7.15% between 2026 to 2031. This report is Segmented by Property Type (Colocation, Hyperscale, and More), Ownership (Leased and Owner Occupied), Enterprise Size (Large Enterprises, and Small and Medium Enterprises), End-Users (Information Technology and Telecom, and More), and Geography (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and the Rest of South America). The Market Forecasts are Provided in Terms of Value (USD).
Hyperscale properties are becoming a more distinct investment class within the South America data center real estate market. Large campuses with multi-phase expansion potential are attracting the biggest commitments because they can support long lead times, higher density, and tailored utility planning. Edge data center properties are projected to grow at a 10.20% CAGR, making them the fastest-growing property type within the South America data center real estate market size through 2031. Their appeal stems from low-latency use cases tied to 5G, distributed applications, and workloads that cannot be confined to primary metros. Modular formats are also gaining traction because they can shorten deployment cycles in markets where permanent, large-scale campuses take longer to entitle and energize. At the same time, traditional enterprise-owned property formats are losing relative importance as customers shift spending toward leased environments that already support modern performance and resilience standards.
Leased ownership accounted for a 77.30% share of the South America Data Center Real Estate Market in 2025 and is projected to register a CAGR of 7.90% through the forecast period. Enterprises and cloud customers increasingly prefer leasing data center capacity rather than owning the underlying property. This lowers upfront capital needs and reduces exposure to design mistakes, grid delays, and technology obsolescence. It also allows tenants to contract around power density and service levels, rather than tying decisions to a single owned building. In the South America data center real estate market, that flexibility has become more important as AI workloads require faster deployment and more specialized infrastructure than legacy server rooms can provide.
Owner-occupied facilities still matter in a limited set of use cases. Government bodies, telecom operators, and some financial institutions continue to keep part of their computing base under direct control for security, compliance, or operating reasons. Even so, many of these users are moving toward hybrid operating models that combine owned environments with leased capacity for cloud, AI, and elastic workloads. This means the owner-occupied segment is not disappearing, but it is losing strategic weight relative to leased supply. The South America data center real estate market is therefore becoming more finance-driven, with long-term lease visibility, utility access, and campus scalability carrying greater weight than simple building ownership.
South America Data Center Real Estate Market Trends and Insights
Hyperscale Cloud Expansion Drives Data Center Capacity Growth
South America is no longer being treated as a slow, future buildout market by global cloud platforms. Large pre-commitments are changing how operators phase land, power, and shell delivery across the South America data center real estate market. Ascenty’s 2026 plan to add 150 MW of AI-focused capacity across 4 new facilities in São Paulo state shows how quickly provider road maps are now aligning with large-scale AI and cloud demand. Very large hyperscale deals also remove a meaningful share of powered land from the pool that smaller tenants can access. That tightens effective vacancy and strengthens pricing for providers that already control grid-ready campuses. It also makes site selection more strategic in the South America data center real estate market because a campus with secure power and fast delivery now carries more value than a larger site with uncertain utility timing.Enterprise Shift to Colocation Increases Leasing Demand
The enterprise move toward colocation is becoming a structural feature of the South America data center real estate market rather than a temporary sourcing preference. Colocation held a 51.40% share in 2025, and leased ownership held 77.30%, indicating how far customers have already moved away from owning infrastructure directly. Enterprises are choosing leased capacity because it gives them access to modern cooling, higher uptime standards, and faster deployment without tying up capital in a single-owned site. This shift is especially relevant for AI workloads, where the cost and operating complexity of building internally is rising. The result is a broader tenant base that now includes traditional enterprise users, regulated institutions, and organizations with mixed cloud and on-premises environments. It is also pushing leasing demand into secondary cities where smaller but underserved enterprise clusters want reliable capacity close to operations.Grid Instability and High Electricity Costs Increase Operating Expenses
Power delivery remains a more immediate problem than power generation for the South America data center real estate market. In Brazil, demand is concentrated in areas where transmission systems were not built to handle large, continuous digital infrastructure loads. In Chile, the issue is less a lack of renewable power than the ability to efficiently deliver that power to the main demand nodes. Electricity remains one of the largest operating cost items for colocation providers, and cost swings directly affect margin assumptions for new campuses. These pressures matter even more for AI-oriented facilities because higher rack density increases both power draw and cooling intensity. Grid uncertainty, therefore, slows development decisions, raises the value of approved utility connections, and adds another layer of risk to site economics across the South America data center real estate market.Other drivers and restraints analyzed in the detailed report include:
- Data Sovereignty Policies Boost Local Data Center Investments
- Power Constraints Increase Demand for High-Density Facilities
- Land Scarcity in Core Metro Areas Limits New Developments
Segment Analysis
Colocation held a 51.40% share of the South America data center real estate market in 2025, and it remains the most established property type across the regional footprint. Its strength comes from carrier-neutral hubs that combine enterprise demand, cloud access, and dense interconnection in a way that is hard to replicate elsewhere. These assets gain value as more tenants join the ecosystem, which makes occupancy depth as important as physical capacity. Equinix opened SP6 in Greater São Paulo in 2026 with a USD 114 million investment, reinforcing the role of premium interconnection campuses in the South America data center real estate market. The colocation segment also benefits from customer demand for flexible contract structures, especially where enterprises want cloud adjacency without committing to owned real estate.Hyperscale properties are becoming a more distinct investment class within the South America data center real estate market. Large campuses with multi-phase expansion potential are attracting the biggest commitments because they can support long lead times, higher density, and tailored utility planning. Edge data center properties are projected to grow at a 10.20% CAGR, making them the fastest-growing property type within the South America data center real estate market size through 2031. Their appeal stems from low-latency use cases tied to 5G, distributed applications, and workloads that cannot be confined to primary metros. Modular formats are also gaining traction because they can shorten deployment cycles in markets where permanent, large-scale campuses take longer to entitle and energize. At the same time, traditional enterprise-owned property formats are losing relative importance as customers shift spending toward leased environments that already support modern performance and resilience standards.
Leased ownership accounted for a 77.30% share of the South America Data Center Real Estate Market in 2025 and is projected to register a CAGR of 7.90% through the forecast period. Enterprises and cloud customers increasingly prefer leasing data center capacity rather than owning the underlying property. This lowers upfront capital needs and reduces exposure to design mistakes, grid delays, and technology obsolescence. It also allows tenants to contract around power density and service levels, rather than tying decisions to a single owned building. In the South America data center real estate market, that flexibility has become more important as AI workloads require faster deployment and more specialized infrastructure than legacy server rooms can provide.
Owner-occupied facilities still matter in a limited set of use cases. Government bodies, telecom operators, and some financial institutions continue to keep part of their computing base under direct control for security, compliance, or operating reasons. Even so, many of these users are moving toward hybrid operating models that combine owned environments with leased capacity for cloud, AI, and elastic workloads. This means the owner-occupied segment is not disappearing, but it is losing strategic weight relative to leased supply. The South America data center real estate market is therefore becoming more finance-driven, with long-term lease visibility, utility access, and campus scalability carrying greater weight than simple building ownership.
Complete Report Scope:
- By Property Type
- Colocation
- Hyperscale
- Edge Data Center Properties
- Modular Data Center Properties
- Others (Wholesale, Retail and Enterprise)
- By Ownership
- Leased
- Owner Occupied
- By Enterprise Size
- Large Enterprises
- Small and Medium Enterprises
- By End-Users
- Information Technology and Telecom
- Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance
- Government and Public Sector
- Healthcare
- Other End Users
- By Country
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Colombia
- Chile
- Rest of South America
List of Companies Covered in this Report:
- Ascenty
- ODATA
- Equinix
- Scala Data Centers
- Cirion Technologies
- Elea Data Centers
- KIO Networks
- NTT Data
- EdgeConneX
- Tecto Data Centers
- HostDime
- UOL Diveo
- Takoda Data Centers
- MDC Data Centers
- DataBank Latam
- SONDA Data Centers
- OX Data Centers
- Win Empresas Data Centers
- EdgeUno
- Lumen Data Centers
Additional Benefits:
- The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
- 3 months of analyst support
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
4 Market Landscape
5 Market Size & Growth Forecasts (Value, USD)
6 Competitive Landscape
7 Market Opportunities & Future Outlook
Companies Mentioned (Partial List)
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
- Ascenty
- ODATA
- Equinix
- Scala Data Centers
- Cirion Technologies
- Elea Data Centers
- KIO Networks
- NTT Data
- EdgeConneX
- Tecto Data Centers
- HostDime
- UOL Diveo
- Takoda Data Centers
- MDC Data Centers
- DataBank Latam
- SONDA Data Centers
- OX Data Centers
- Win Empresas Data Centers
- EdgeUno
- Lumen Data Centers
