Even during yet another year of global volatility and seemingly relentless change in 2025, one thing remained constant: Latin America continues to be an exciting place to do business.
Multinationals made big investments, from food giant McCormick’s $750 million joint venture in Mexico to BHP Group’s $13 billion plans to overhaul its Chilean mining operations. Growth came from sectors old and new. “Agriculture and commodities remain vital, but it’s the technology and digital services sectors that are drawing fresh attention,” the Rio Times reported—a statement we think applies to both Brazil and the region as a whole.
In areas from AI to robotics, our team saw innovation by both startups and established players. At the same time, government policies, market dynamics, and consumer demand converged in many nations to create particularly advantageous conditions for strategic investment and business expansion.
Read on to learn more — and get inspired for your 2026 planning.
Market Dynamics Meet Investor-Friendly Policies
While Latin American business opportunities exist for all levels of risk tolerance, a few markets feel particularly promising right now, starting with Argentina.
Under Javier Milei’s administration, the nation recorded its first fiscal surplus in years, with inflation substantially down from its 2023 triple-digit high. An October 26 midterm victory assuaged fears of stalled progress and solidified investor confidence. In November, Minister of the Economy Luis Caputo predicted growth of up to 10% in the new year, and the nation’s Índice de Confianza del Consumidor (consumer confidence index) rose as well. “The elections were a big boost for the business community because they broaden the horizon for reforms and investment for many years to come,” Caputo said.
One policy move from earlier in the year is reshaping Argentina’s automotive industry. Lifted tariffs on low-cost EVs and hybrids has put these vehicles within reach for more consumers—and opened the door for expansion by China’s BYD.
Chinese auto companies have been active in Mexico as well, with BYD reportedly reconsidering plans for an EV plant here and lighting manufacturer UTAS-NOVA breaking ground on a plant in Aguascalientes this summer. The nation overall has been seeing historic levels of overseas investment, much of it related to automation, autos, and advanced manufacturing. “Fueled by a powerful nearshoring wave and record levels of FDI, the country’s manufacturing sector is expanding and moving up the value chain,” the Association for Advancing Automation reported.
At the same time, surges in outside investment have helped Peru become one of South America’s fastest growing economies, along with high copper demand, a new wave of tech startups, and commerce flowing through the year-old Chancay megaport. LATAM FDI cited a “vast network of trade agreements” to lower tariffs, increase export potential, and incentivize global firms to establish regional operations. “FDI inflows have rebounded significantly,” the consultancy noted, “with major investments targeting mining, logistics, and infrastructure.”
Such infrastructure opportunities in Colombia involve digital commerce. The September 2025 launch of national payment system Bre-B marked a new stage in the nation’s fintech leadership. Market research and intelligence firm PCMI called Bre-B “a tipping point in the country’s payment infrastructure,” with Finnosummit noting the nation’s overall focus on open finance, renewed investment activity, and regulatory advancements.
Powering the AI Revolution
If the tech world had one defining word in 2025, that word would be AI, with a new tool or solution seemingly entering the marketplace each day.
Behind every prompt, bot, and LLM lies a vast infrastructure of enabling resources, and Latin America nations and companies have been purposefully investing to make itself indispensable in this area.
Data centers are one example. “In 2025, Latin America has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fiercely competitive data center markets on the planet,” according to marketplace aggregator Datacenters.com, which cited “explosive cloud adoption” by Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and AWS in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.
With favorable shifts in economics, fiber/connectivity, and the regulatory landscape, along with rising demand for streaming and gaming content, more of these facilities are in the works. Places to watch include Chile’s Southern Cone, Mexico’s Querétaro region, and Bogota, a key target of investment by the Colombian government.
In Argentina, Cirion Technologies announced plans to expand its BUE1 data center in Buenos Aires, a key hub for interconnecting hyperscalers, service providers, and large corporations. “With this increased capacity, we’ll be able to host more clients and provide the energy needed for their intensive workloads, including AI, reinforcing our interconnection position in Argentina,” Francisco Fuentes, data center sales director for Argentina and Chile, told Capacity Media.
Opportunity also lies in addressing the environmental aspect of data center and AI growth. Brazil’s ODATA announced over $1 billion of green financing focused on investments in sustainable infrastructure. Argentina, which generates some of its electricity from nuclear power, has included in its energy plan small modular reactors—devices can be assembled on site at a data center for clean, scalable, stable energy. The plan also includes development of Nuclear City, a fossil fuel-free hub for nuclear-powered data centers, in Patagonia.
Essential AI infrastructure also includes data annotation, the tagging and labeling of raw images, text and audio data used in AI modeling. These services, also critical to localizing content and training models in a nuanced, context-specific fashion, are a booming market in Latin America, thanks to a skilled talent pool and investment in digital infrastructure. But companies should proceed down this path with care, with appropriate guardrails and policies in place in areas like data privacy and ethical labor practices.
Moving the Semiconductor Supply Chain Closer to Home
From the advanced semiconductors in AI to the “legacy chips” found in autos, appliances and medical equipment, semiconductors power progress. Amid the supply chain volatility of recent years, Latin American countries are recognizing the importance of local capacity.
“Companies are looking for local suppliers, from something as simple as screws to something as complex as a chip,” said Alejandro Franco, founder and CEO of QSM Semiconductores, which is investing to build Mexico’s first semiconductor factory.
Mexico has an official 2024-2030 Semiconductor Master Plan. “We want to stop being a country that assembles chips and become one that designs and makes them,” said Edmundo Gutiérrez Domínguez, the plan’s general coordinator.
Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay are other areas of homegrown activity. “Latin America is making a push to attract specific segments of the semiconductor supply chain, particularly in chip assembly, testing, and packaging,” writes the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Latin America sits at the juncture of possibility and opportunity at a critical time for the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing.”
Streamlining Complexities in Trade and Logistics
Across such supply chains, knowledge (where goods are at, the latest rules, regulations and requirements governing them) is power—and is too often incomplete.
“From customs congestion to cargo theft, supply chain visibility often breaks down during border crossings,” an analysis of the topic in Fast Company noted. Shipping giant Maersk points out that simple tracking of a product’s journey has evolved into advanced analytics, with predictive data from multiple sources bringing new possibilities to daily operations and strategic planning.
As digital transformation and geopolitics made cross-border commerce even more complicated in 2025, Latin American innovators found opportunity.
Mexico City-based Nuvocargo offers a one-stop digital shop for customs clearance, insurance, trade finance, and reporting. Moova, which got its start with last-mile deliveries in Argentina, also streamlines trade’s complexities. Acquisition of Barcelona-based startup Vonzu expands the company’s ability and range for connecting manufacturers, retailers, and logistics operators with real-time traceability.
Unsurprisingly, AI plays a role in much of this sector’s innovation. “The next five years will see many new AI applications in the space of logistics,” predicts managing director Álvaro Villar López with the freight forwarder Nowports. “More companies in the supply chain will use AI-powered data analysis, chatbots, and other AI tools to find smarter routes, ease communication, and balance supply and demand.”
Payment Platforms Become Digital Ecosystems
“Latin America’s fintech sector is booming,” announced Ximena Aleman, co-founder and co-CEO of cross-border banking app Prometeo.
Funding rounds in 2025 included Creditas in Brazil, Konfío and Covalto in Mexico, Colombia’s Addi, Uruguay’s dLocal, and Argentina’s Ualá. Also in Argentina, UK fintech Revolut recently expanded its Latin American operations with the purchase of a leading Buenos Aires bank.
Such success has been driven by fintech-friendly regulatory frameworks in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile along with the prevalence of real-time payment systems like Mexico’s SPEI, Argentina’s Transferencias 3.0, and Pix, launched by Brazil’s central bank in 2020.
For companies like Rappi, digital payments are just a springboard for what’s next.
Amazon just made a strategic investment in the Colombian super app, which started as a regional solution connecting customers to restaurants, pharmacies, and supermarkets. While the initial goal is to accelerate last-mile deliveries, the long-term vision could be even more expansive.
“Rappi already runs workloads on AWS, and the Mexico cloud region that opened in January 2025 trimmed latency and addressed data residency, making joint technical work easier,” wrote Transportation & Logistics International. “If Amazon leans in, the partnership can tie retail demand, payments, and cloud into a tighter flywheel across Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.”
Such a flywheel works because of widespread digital payments adoption across Latin America. “Mobile transfers in Costa Rica have become a daily tool for households and merchants,” IDB Invest noted. “In Argentina, customers can shop and pay using any interoperable QR code linked directly to their account.”
Rappi’s evolution demonstrates what’s possible with a fintech foundation, active users, investment, and imagination.
“These platforms are doing more than processing payments — they’re building ecosystems,” fintech journal PYMNTS declared. “Digital payments are becoming embedded in the economic fabric — from B2B invoicing and gig worker payouts to cross-border eCommerce and digital tax compliance.”
Advancements in Autonomy and Digital Health
Kiwibots from Colombia have been delivering donuts to college students for years. Behind these deliveries is a company appropriately named Robot.com—and baked goods are just the beginning of what it aims to offer. Robot.com has been expanding into warehouse logistics, advertising displays, security, and inspections.
This is just one of many robotics innovators in Latin America. Others include ICRA’s cleaning solutions for airports, factories, and other facilities, Human Robotics’ customer service and logistics robots, and Tumi Robotics for confined and underground spaces.
Prótesis Avanzadas’ prosthetics represents the overlap of robotics and healthtech. Healthcare technology has been a thriving sector in Latin America, bringing innovation to the medical and wellness landscape with solutions as varied as Argentina’s Pura Menta meditation app and Chile’s dentist management platforms.
Over 1,200 health tech companies have emerged in Latin America over the past decade, research by JP Morgan noted, citing growth opportunities in biotech, local pharmaceutical production, and the telemedicine infrastructure that boomed during the COVID pandemic. Wolters Kluwer also cited telehealth as a tech-driven healthcare opportunity in this sector, along with solutions for managing chronic disease, clinician shortages, burnout, and the growing public health threat of anti-microbial resistance.
“Digital health has expanded exponentially, consolidating itself as a strategic pillar in healthcare systems,” a study published in the September 2025 issue of Health Informatics declared. “Investments in international collaborations that encourage knowledge exchange, strengthen research networks, and drive scientific publications are essential.”
Regulatory reforms are critical as well—and have been evolving. Mexico, already home to the Sofia health insurance app and Diagnostikare for underserved communities, has added provisions to its General Health Law for digital health and the integration of information and communication technologies, including the adoption of electronic health records, telemedicine, and mobile health applications to enhance service delivery and patient engagement. The next step: intellectual property frameworks that encourage knowledge-sharing while enforcing IP protections.
Natural Resources Old and New
Even amid the global ebbs and flows of ESG, renewables are thriving in Latin America.
Late September marked a $300 million mandate letter from the IFC supporting the first utility-scale battery energy storage systems in Argentina. In the private sector, AES Argentina announced a $150 million investment to expand its Vientos Bonaerenses wind farm in Buenos Aires, estimated to double its current renewable energy production.
Luis Viga, chairman of the board of the Brazilian Green Hydrogen Industry Association and of Fortescue Brasil, pointed out a potential redirection of capital toward the region. “There are examples of companies that have given up on hydrogen projects in Brazil to direct investments to the US, attracted by the IRA incentives under the Biden administration,” he observed. “With the suspension of these incentives, some of these resources may return to Brazil.”
“Brazil has great potential,” Juliana Ramalho, a partner with the Brazilian law firm Mattos Filho, told Brazil Energy Insight. “Some [companies] have ridden the [ESG] wave. These will give up on this wave at the first opportunity. And there are other companies that are very serious and will continue to pursue this ESG agenda.”
As wind, solar, etc. take hold, demand remains strong for traditional fossil fuels. Argentina reported record oil and natural gas production, with a growing percentage of this extracted by nontraditional methods.
Guyana continued its rise as a top oil producer, with multinationals like ExxonMobil boosting production across new projects and campuses. Yet investors keen to catch this wave in 2026 may need to navigate supply and pricing issues as the global oil supply heads toward a historic surplus.
“With less oil revenue, the government may have to slow infrastructure rollouts, extend project timelines, or refinance at higher interest rates,” the Kaieteur News reported.
Meanwhile, Chile is demonstrating the impact public policy can have on a nation’s natural resource development. Its mining industry is expected to address bottlenecks related to permit processing, project approvals, and transmission infrastructure. At the same time, companies interested in this sector should expect a more limited spending increase than in recent years and for state-run Codelco to recover from recent production problems.
There’s a growing green side to natural resource extraction. “From electromobility to power grids and advanced batteries, Chile is at the heart of this transformation,” according to Karla Flores, director of InvestChile. “Our copper and lithium are not just resources; they are catalysts for a cleaner, more connected future.” Fast Markets detailed a few of these methods, including direct lithium extraction, which processes brine without requiring pre-concentration ponds, and leveraging the sun-drenched salars of the Atacama Desert for lithium extraction with lower energy and water use.
The nation also aims to be a leader in green hydrogen, with a $2.8 billion bill in this area currently moving through its government chambers and an exciting array of cleantech startups. Capta Hydro delivers telemetry, automation, and software solutions for better water management. Remote Waters explores desalination processes for more accessible water, and Suncast satellite data and AI to work for wind, solar and photovoltaic forecasting.
Contact us to start planning your Latin American business strategy for the new year.