Andriei Gutierrez, President of ABES, participated in the Data Center Brazil Forum, promoted by Fiesp – Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo. The event, held in São Paulo on June 12, 2025, addressed fundamental questions about the need, obstacles and legislative and regulatory risks for data center infrastructure in the country.
In his panel, which included the participation of Juliano Maranhão and Milene Louise Renée Coscione, moderated by Juliana Abrusio, Gutierrez emphasized the importance of understanding the strategic role of data centers for Brazil. “Financial transactions or retail sales are increasingly linked to the processing of data that occurs in data centers. Whether it is payments, inventory management, supplier management and payment, sales, credit analysis, etc., they increasingly depend on data processing,” he said. Gutierrez also highlighted the growing dependence on data in sectors such as telecommunications, communications, journalism, entertainment, mining, and oil and gas.
An alarming fact presented by Gutierrez is that Brazil currently processes only 40% to 50% of its own data. Given the growth of digital transformation, investment in data centers in the country is urgent, and a policy to stimulate this industry would be “more than welcome”.
In addition to domestic demand, Gutierrez pointed out a unique opportunity for Brazil. With the US facing depletion of energy capacity for its data centers, Brazil, which has a surplus of more than 18 GW of energy generation, can position itself as an exporter of data processing, developing the local industry. For him, having data centers in the country, both for domestic processing and for export, is “increasingly strategic for Brazilian digital sovereignty.”
Legal certainty for the export of data processing services was another relevant point addressed. Gutierrez highlighted the need for greater conceptual clarity in section IV of article 4 of the LGPD and the importance of ensuring that the AI Legal Framework, currently under debate in the Chamber, does not create legal uncertainty regarding the remuneration of copyright for training AI models, a topic that, according to him, should be discussed separately from AI legislation.
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