Google, Amazon, Starlink, Microsoft, Huawei and Oracle are some of the major global players in the tech sector that are making large investments that allow Chile to position itself as a digital hub par excellence in Latin America. The progress has been so accelerated that Chile today ranks first in Digital Economic Value in Latin America for its level of adoption of digital technologies, accelerators and digital talent.
Several figures show that Chile is at the forefront of technology and connectivity. In June 2022, the Speedtest Global Index revealed that Chile has the fastest fixed broadband internet in the world, with an average download speed of 213.73 mbps. The accelerated adoption of broadband in Chile generated a true technological revolution that positioned our country at the forefront of technology adoption. Today Chile has a fiber optic deployment higher than the OECD average and that of countries such as the United States.
And not only that. The most recent Digital Readiness Index study (released in 2020) revealed that Chile is the best prepared country in Latin America to start the new digital economic model, standing out in the category of access to basic needs. The digital economy currently represents 22.2% of Chile's GDP, according to a study by Accenture Research and Oxford Economics, which is equivalent to US$55 billion. Thus, Chile ranks first in the Digital Economic Value Index in Latin America for its current level of adoption of digital technologies, accelerators and digital talent.
Many recent investments by large global players in the technology sector have positioned Chile as a regional benchmark in technology.
Last year, Elon Musk's company, Starlink, chose Chile for its first incursion with satellite internet throughout Latin America, installing in August 2021 in the small towns of Sotomó (Los Lagos region) and Caleta Sierra (Coquimbo region), and then starting the service on a massive scale through the sale of its kits.
Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it is looking to expand in Latin America, arriving in Chile in early 2023, with a sales catalog specially created for the country. This would eliminate the need for international shipping, allowing a cheaper and faster process than the current one.
Meanwhile, the cloud computing services area of the company, Amazon Web Services (AWS) also continues to bet on our country, by initiating the environmental process to install a data center with an investment of more than US$200 million. AWS projects a sustained growth in Chile, initiating the process to obtain the environmental permit that will lead the American firm to build a data center in Santiago that would imply an investment of US$205 million. This data center will be located in the Puente Alto district, on a 17.5 hectare site. "In the future we plan to invest more and expand our physical presence in Chile, as customers demand and need it to meet their needs," AWS vice-president for Latin America, Jaime Valles, told Reuters.
But it is not the only company committing investments for data centers in the country. In 2021, the U.S. company Oracle - one of the largest software companies in the world - announced that it will invest in a second data center in Chile, located in the Metropolitan Region. Meanwhile, in 2022, the Chinese firm Huawei announced that it will build its third data center in Chile, with an investment of about US$100 million. "In 2019 we installed our first data center on national soil, today we reaffirm our commitment to technological transformation, both privately and publicly. Chile is undoubtedly a benchmark for other Latin American countries in this area and that is due, in part, to the government's commitment to connectivity and digitization," said Jason Jin, Manager of Huawei Cloud & AI in Chile, in June.
Google has also made Chile a protagonist in the company's bid to grow in the rest of Latin America. In 2021 the company celebrated a decade in our country, motivated by the enormous potential of Chile. Today it has not only multiplied its services for companies and individuals, but also considers the country as a platform for the rest of the region. "Chile stands out for innovation, for embracing new technologies and foreign investment. An example of this is that the only data center that exists in Latin America is in Chile and we put it in Quilicura", said recently the vice president for Latin America of Google, Adriana Noreña.
Another technology titan, Microsoft, is celebrating 30 years in Chile this year, in the midst of an expansion plan launched in 2020 under its Transforma Chile program, the company's most significant investment in its three decades in the country. Delivered from data centers in Chile, the Microsoft cloud seeks to increase work communications and remote learning through services such as Microsoft Teams, in addition to improving the reliability and scalability of services for Chilean companies, among other benefits.
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