Mexico is fast becoming a data centre hub, as digital transformation booms across the Americas. With its strong economic ties to the US and technology giants having already invested in the region, the industry across the country is expecting significant growth in the near future.
In fact, the Mexico data centre market was valued at US$1.06 billion in 2024 and is predicted to reach $2.27 billion by 2030.
The state of Querétaro currently represents more than half of the market’s installed capacity, largely due to it being strategically located between Mexico City and other important cities such as Monterrey and Guadalajara. It is also low risk of natural disasters and has cheaper land costs.
Already, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are building large data centre facilities in the region, as the state’s support from central government has made it more of an attractive location to invest.
Ascenty Data Centers, one of the larger data centre companies in Latin America, has two facilities in Querétaro, which are both roughly 20,000 square feet, and has a third site under construction.
This year, OData launched its fourth hyperscale data centre in Mexico to reinforce its position as one of the largest operators across the country. Located in Querétaro, the new site expanded ODATA’s interconnected network of hyperscale sites in the country, enabling customers to scale operations across multiple campuses for cloud and AI workloads.
Alibaba Cloud also opened its first data centre in Mexico in February to expand its cloud computing and digital infrastructure efforts.
However, with the rate of growth, there are raising concerns about water usage in Mexico. With Querétaro often prone to droughts, these concerns are heightened, with the some arguing that a growing need for AI and cloud computing across the region is placing additional strain on Mexico’s water resources, given that the technology often requires water for cooling purposes.
This public debate recently surfaced in the UK, with concerns over data centres often focused on energy and water use. In fact, techUK released a report to spotlight how commercial data centres use water in the UK, finding that 51% of surveyed data centres use waterless cooling systems.
Matt Evans, CEO of Lennox Data Centre Solutions, recently told Capacity that the reality of data centre water use is often misrepresented.
“Most data centres in the UK don’t actually use water as a primary cooling method. Nearly two-thirds don’t use water at all,” he said. “If you compare large facilities in the UK, there’s only about 5% that use over 100,000 cubic meters of water a year.”
In Mexico, a country more prone to water scarcity, data centres can invest in water-efficient technologies like closed-loop systems and water management tools to improve conservation.
Microsoft told the BBC it operates three data centres in Querétaro and it uses direct outdoor air for cooling approximately 95% of the year, which requires zero water. For the rest of the year, when ambient temperatures exceed 29.4°C, they use evaporative cooling. In total, its Querétaro sites used 40 million litres of water.
As reported by The Guardian last year, AWS said: “At AWS, we know that water is a precious resource. We are committed to being water-positive by 2030 by returning more water to communities than we use in our data centre operations.
“In Querétaro, we carefully analysed regional and local water availability before selecting an air-cooled datacentre design that will not require continuous use of cooling water in operations.”
With continued incentives from the local government to build data centres with renewable energy, it is hoped that Mexico will become a significant sustainable innovation hub. However, the tech giants investing there would benefit from working together with the country, offering support and prioritising transparency.
Related stories
How Cirion Technologies commits to AI data centre growth in Latin America
How can the data centre sector improve public acceptability?
