Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Argentine President Javier Milei has set his sights on an ambitious goal: transforming Argentina into a regional technology hub capable of attracting global investment in artificial intelligence.
With abundant energy resources, favorable climates and a highly skilled workforce, the country is emerging as a competitive destination for the growth of this emerging industry.
Interest from major tech companies is already taking shape. OpenAI, the U.S. company that created ChatGPT, announced this week an agreement with the Argentine firm Sur Energy to move forward with construction of Stargate, a large-scale artificial intelligence data center in Patagonia.
In a press release, OpenAI said, "Sur Energy would be the developer of energy and infrastructure and would lead the formation of a consortium that includes a partnership with a cloud infrastructure developer."
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The company added that it plans to ensure the data center ecosystem operates with safe, efficient and sustainable energy sources.
"OpenAI expressed its interest in becoming a buyer [offtaker] of the energy or services generated by the project," the statement said.
According to Argentine media reports, the data center could involve an investment of about $25 billion.
Patagonia has emerged as the ideal location for the project, with its clean energy, naturally low temperatures that facilitate server cooling and vast stretches of land suitable for large-scale operations.
"I believe it's achievable, especially considering Patagonia's natural resources, the country's technical capacity and its human talent," Paula Toselli, a mentor in AI innovation and strategy, told UPI. Toselli described the initiative as a bold move.
"It's an extremely important step. It places us in a privileged position, since few countries have these kinds of mega data centers," she said.
One company that began operating in Argentina this year is WhyW8t, a U.S. startup founded by four Argentine entrepreneurs that aims to automate up to 90% of support tasks using artificial intelligence.
Its decision to expand into Argentina reflects confidence in the country's strong technological potential and skilled workforce.
"We want to bring our international experience to strengthen the adoption of artificial intelligence and help Argentine companies become more competitive and efficient, driving the growth of the local tech industry," Agustín Schwartz, the company's founder, told UPI.
Regarding investment incentives, Schwartz said Argentina is showing clear openness to foreign capital through policies that promote technological development and the knowledge economy.
The company plans to invest about $20 million over the next 10 years to build local teams, technological infrastructure and operational support.
"Argentina has top-level technical talent, excellent universities and a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem -- especially in provinces such as Córdoba, which is now one of the country's strongest tech hubs," Schwartz said.
"If policies that encourage innovation and private investment remain in place, Argentina can establish itself as a regional leader in artificial intelligence."
The country has many resources to position itself as a technology hub, but must bring greater stability to fully leverage them, José Olano Melo, director of research and projects at the Argentine Institute of Artificial Intelligence, told UPI.
"Recent macroeconomic fluctuations, currency devaluations and policy shifts make private investment difficult," he said.
Olano added that Argentina views the issue as critical and is seeking to position itself as a key player in a region where two major powers -- the United States and China -- are competing intensely for geopolitical influence.
The current landscape, however, reveals significant gaps. The Secretariat of Innovation, Science and Technology recently convened a public-private roundtable to analyze the country's value chain at which the main weaknesses in Argentina's artificial intelligence ecosystem were identified. The main obstacle is the lack of investment in infrastructure.
"It's quite limited, both publicly and privately. This seriously limits the capacity to train models and scale innovative solutions globally," Olano said.
"The small number of high-performance data centers forces many companies to contract services abroad, creating greater technological dependence and higher costs. This is a critical barrier to AI development in Argentina and clearly restricts computing capacity, data access and connectivity," he added.
Paula Toselli emphasized that initiatives such as Stargate will enable direct access to large-scale computing infrastructure without relying on international providers.
"There will be a more robust ecosystem, which will lower entry costs and promote local innovation. We'll also gain greater international visibility and the ability to export AI-based services developed in Argentina to the rest of the world. This puts us on the global innovation and technology map," she said.
Olano said another challenge is the limited connection between the scientific community and private industry.
"Although Argentina is globally recognized for its academic excellence and capacity for knowledge generation, there's a disconnect between AI research and its application in the private sector. Unfortunately, that prevents scientific advances from translating into competitive products, services or business models," Olano said.
A third issue involves AI adoption and education.
"Adoption of AI remains low, especially among small and medium-sized companies and within the public sector, which limits the technology's potential to boost regional competitiveness. We see that this lack of digital literacy among business owners and workers is a major obstacle," he said.