Google, Amazon, Starlink, Microsoft, Huawei and Oracle are some of the major global players in the technology 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 today Chile ranks first in Latin America in Digital Economic Value for its level of adoption of digital technologies, accelerators and digital talent.
Several numbers 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 above the average of the OECD and countries such as the United States.
And that is not all. The most recent Digital Readiness Index study (published 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 Economicswhich would be 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 allowed Chile to position itself as a regional reference 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 started the service massively through the sale of its kits.
At the same time, the e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it seeks to expand in Latin America, arriving in Chile at the beginning of 2023, with a catalog of sales 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 company's new computing services area, 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 aims at a sustained growth in Chile, initiating the process to obtain the environmental permit that will lead the North American company to build a data center in Santiago, which requires an investment of US$ 205 million. This data center will be located in the community of Puente Alto, on a 17.5 hectare site. "In the future we plan to invest more and expand our physical presence in Chile, as customers come to demand and need to meet their needs," said to Reuters the vice-president for Latin America of AWS, Jaime Valles.
But this is not the only company committed to investing in data centers in the country. In 2021, the North American 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 company Huawei announced that it will build its third data center in Chile, with investments of approximately US$ 100 million. "In 2019 we installed our first data center in the country alone; today we reaffirm our commitment to technological transformation, both at the private and public levels. Chile is undoubtedly a benchmark for other countries in Latin America in this area and this 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 also placed Chile as a protagonist in the company's commitment to grow to the rest of Latin America. In 2021 the company will complete a decade in our countrymotivated 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 investments. 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 of Google for Spanish America, Adriana Noreña.
Another technology titan, Microsoft, is completing 30 years in Chile this year, amid an expansion plan initiated in 2020 in its Transforma Chile program, the company's most significant investment in its three decades in the country. Delivered from data centers in Chile, Microsoft's new solution seeks to increase work communications and remote learning through services such as Microsoft Teams, as well as to improve the reliability and scalability of services of Chilean companies, among other benefits.
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