Latin America·Argentina
Milei pitches Patagonia as an unregulated home for AI data centres, and sheep ranchers are leasing land for one
BUENOS AIRES —
Depth
Dig five layers into this story — from what happened to the full picture.
L1What happened
Milei told the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington last month: “We are not going to regulate artificial intelligence... We are going to leave it free.” Visitor logs obtained by AP show tech figures from Peter Thiel to representatives of OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Oracle and data centre companies meeting Milei and his aides in recent months.
L2Who’s affected
Chubut’s sheep ranchers, whose wool industry is in decline after decades of drought, overgrazing and soaring production costs; Francisco Sáenz’s family is among the 14 landowners. Trelew residents, who have rallied under a “Trelew Free of Data Centres” banner. Cristina Gibón, 46: “There’s just so little information.”
L3Why it’s quiet
Analysis · OVERLOOKED Construction isn’t expected until around 2028, so this is still a plan rather than a building site, which helps it stay off the radar.
L4Deeper impact
If run continuously at projected peak demand, the campus would use about 2.7 times the electricity the entire city of Buenos Aires consumed in 2025, according to an AP calculation. The incentives don’t require companies to reserve computing capacity for local use or disclose energy and water use. Alan Rocha Varsanyi of Observatorio Petrolero Sur: “The computing capacity will be exported wherever OpenAI or the other companies need it.” Nicolás Wolovick of the National University of Córdoba: “Without rules, Argentina will become a laboratory.”
L5Full context
Patagonia’s appeal is empty land, cool air, strong winds and gas from the Vaca Muerta shale formation. Opposition in Congress forced Milei to gut a bill easing limits on foreign land ownership and has stalled his plan to let AI agents control companies. Pope Leo XIV visits Argentina next week on a Latin American tour.
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Original reporting
This is an OVERLOOKED summary of the reporting above. Facts and figures come from the linked sources. Everything here is a fact unless it is labelled otherwise. Support this work.
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