Odata steps up LatAm expansion with US$3.3bn Mexican project launch

Brazil-based hyperscale datacenter provider Odata, controlled by US group Aligned Data Centers, inaugurated the first building of a US$3.3bn datacenter campus in the Mexican city of Querétaro.

The launch of the first phase of the QR03 campus marks a new milestone in the company's expansion strategy and comes amid the implementation of tariff policies in the US and reports that major hyperscale players such as AWS and Microsoft are scaling back some of their previously announced large-scale global datacenter investments.

In Mexico, the first phase of QR03 comprises 72MW of IT capacity "readily available to meet the growing demands of cloud and AI providers," the company said in a statement.

The campus is expected to deliver up to 300MW of IT capacity across five buildings on a 275,000m2 site once fully developed. It is considered the largest project of its kind currently under development in the country.

Overall, QR03 is projected to reach 400MW in total capacity after all expansion phases, of which 300MW would be critical capacity – that is, power allocated specifically for IT operations.

In February, Odata powered up 200MW in IT capacity at QR03, as reported by BNamericas.

"We did it in a very good timeframe and solved a problem that many other companies have been facing in the country, which is securing power to the datacenters in Querétaro," Odata CEO Ricardo Alário told BNamericas at the time.

The project also includes a high-performance cooling system called Delta Cube (Delta³), developed by Aligned Data Centers.

In that interview, Alário said the first building was ready, with its capacity booked and leased to a client, and that the official inauguration would take place in late March or early April.

Now, the company says it has secured two additional anchor clients for QR03.

Odata stated that beyond supporting the growth of cloud and AI infrastructure in Mexico, QR03 is "strategically positioned to meet US market demand" – despite existing tariffs and President Donald Trump's push for companies to build and develop within the US.

For Odata, Querétaro's proximity and strong connectivity to major US datacenter hubs, along with energy constraints in certain US regions, make QR03 a strategic investment.

In January, Aligned announced the completion of another round of capital raising, totaling over US$5bn in primary equity and more than US$7bn in new debt commitments to support datacenter expansion.

The capital raised included new equity from funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management, along with other major global investors with expertise in digital infrastructure.

The group said the funding will accelerate the development of over 5GW of planned capacity across the Americas to meet growing demand for AI-ready infrastructure from hyperscale and large enterprise clients.