Latin America. In 2023 alone, cloud computing generated USD 53,000 million (of the total USD 6 trillion) of Latin America's gross domestic product (GDP).
This amount is a result of products and services offered by companies of all industries and sizes that use technology. "Looking at the potential and opportunities for innovation that we have, this figure could grow to $700 billion in the next five years," said Paula Bellízia, vice president for Latin America at AWS.
Paula gave several examples of how the potential and opportunities that exist in Latin America are being taken advantage of. One is Auna, a health services company that operates mainly in Colombia and Peru. The company created the region's first blockchain-based vaccine passport, benefiting more than 20 million people and positively impacting the health systems of both countries.
Another is Ânima, a Brazilian holding company in the education sector with approximately 380,000 students in higher and continuing education. Through solutions that use generative AI, students in the group can create class summaries, ask questions, and even receive suggestions on how to develop their academic career. Using these solutions reduced education costs by 90%, while increasing the effectiveness of the learning process.
Cloud and AI grow in Latin America
The information technology industry is expected to grow by 11% in Latin America by 2025. This is five times more than the total GDP growth of the region. Cloud computing services are expected to expand by 21%, while the use of artificial intelligence will increase by 49%. "The priorities of companies in the region are to increase productivity, mainly through process automation, and to generate new revenue streams by improving customer relationships," said Ajenadro Floreán, IDC's Transformation and Technology consulting leader for Latin America, at the event.
For Juan-Carlos Gutierrez, Director of Technology and Solutions Architecture at AWS for Latin America, who also participated in the session, in 2023, companies carried out proofs of concept for the use of generative artificial intelligence. Already this year, companies of all sectors and sizes began to effectively use technology in their processes. By 2025, the challenge will be to scale up this use, through the responsible application of technology and the creation of agents capable of working with the particularities of each industry. For example, collecting documents at a company regulated by a government body is completely different from performing the same process at an unregulated one.
Latin America is a source of global innovation
"The potential and opportunities are enormous in Latin America, one of the world's main sources of innovation. That's why AWS will invest nearly $6 billion in the region over the next few years. We want to have the right infrastructure to support the growth of cloud and artificial intelligence use by our customers and this goes beyond technology," said Paula.
Recently, AWS announced the creation of a new region (a set of data centers) in Mexico, with expected investments of more than $5 billion over the next 15 years. With this, customers in Latin America, who already had access to the São Paulo region, will have more options and capacity to develop and use their solutions.
In Brazil, AWS will invest $1.8 billion over the next 10 years to expand and modernize its infrastructure. "Every dollar is invested focusing on safety, compliance and sustainability," Paula highlights.
