Lula, TikTok CEO discuss $10 billion data centre amid regulatory tensions

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva opened his week at the United Nations on Monday by meeting with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew to discuss plans for a multibillion-dollar data centre investment in Brazil, even as political controversies persist over regulation of the Chinese-owned platform.

The meeting, held at Brazil’s mission to the UN, was Lula’s first working engagement in New York, highlighting the importance of technology and digital policy in his international agenda.

Brazilian officials estimate TikTok’s investment could reach R$55 billion (US$10.29 billion), making it one of the largest technology infrastructure projects ever announced in Brazil.

ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has been in negotiations since April to build a hyperscale data centre campus in the state of Ceará, in Brazil’s northeast. The state has become a magnet for the data centre industry because it combines abundant renewable power, especially wind, with clusters of submarine internet cables that land near its capital, Fortaleza.

These cables are critical links carrying data traffic between South America and destinations in North America, Europe and Africa, making Ceará a natural hub for digital infrastructure.

Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira at an event last week in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Reuters

At the centre of discussions is the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex, a deepwater facility west of Fortaleza that has been designated as an Export Processing Zone, or ZPE in Portuguese, a special economic area that grants tax breaks and fast-track licensing to companies establishing export-oriented operations.

South China Morning Post