Scala Data Centers Plans $500M First Phase of AI City Project in Brazil

Gate News message, April 21 — Scala Data Centers, a Brazilian data center developer backed by DigitalBridge, plans to launch the first phase of its Scala AI City project in late 2026 while seeking a hyperscaler tenant for AI servers and chips. The company is in talks with US and Chinese tech firms regarding the partnership.

The first phase is expected to cost approximately $500 million for infrastructure. Scala has secured approval for a power connection of up to 5 gigawatts in Rio Grande do Sul and plans to expand its São Paulo campus following an investment of about 12 billion reais ($2.4 billion).

The project features liquid cooling technology designed to support high-power server racks exceeding 150 kilowatts for heavy AI workloads. Scala’s planned 4.75 gigawatt capacity would be nearly eight times Brazil’s current operational data center capacity. The facility aims to leverage Brazil’s renewable energy resources and achieve data transmission latency of less than 80 milliseconds to North America via submarine cables, positioning the country as a potential AI processing export hub in Latin America.