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Alessandro Lombardi, chairman of Elea Data Centers told RCRTech that I Squared Capital’s investment gives Elea the long-term capital and global infrastructure expertise needed to accelerate the next phase of the company’s growth
In sum – what to know:
Brazil expansion focus – I Squared will acquire Elea to scale data center capacity in a market where demand is expected to outpace supply.
AI infrastructure push – The platform includes more than 300MW of capacity and over 1GW in development aimed at supporting hyperscale and AI workloads.
Energy advantage – Brazil’s renewable power availability is emerging as a key factor enabling large-scale data center and AI infrastructure growth.
I Squared Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Elea Data Centers, a Brazilian carrier-neutral data center operator that RCRTech recently featured for its 100% renewable energy strategy. With the acquisition, I Squared expands its digital infrastructure footprint in Latin America in support of AI-related growth.
Elea operates nine interconnected data center campuses across Brazil, including facilities in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília. The platform currently has more than 300MW of powered capacity, with over 1GW in development.
The investment is intended to support Elea’s expansion plans, particularly the build-out of higher-density infrastructure designed for hyperscale and AI deployments. Brazil is emerging as a key market for data centers, supported by a large internet user base and increasing demand for both domestic and international compute workloads.
I Squared Capital stated that Brazil remains underpenetrated compared to more mature markets, with demand expected to exceed available supply in the coming years. Growth is being driven by cloud adoption, as well as increasing requirements for local inference and training workloads.
Energy availability is also a central factor. Elea operates its facilities using renewable energy and is positioning its platform to take advantage of Brazil’s capacity for large-scale power supply.
I Squared said the acquisition will support the development of large-scale projects, including Elea’s planned Rio AI City, as it looks to build out capacity aligned with hyperscale and AI demand.
Alessandro Lombardi, founder and chairman of Elea Data Centers told RCRTech: “I Squared Capital’s investment gives Elea the long-term capital and global infrastructure expertise needed to accelerate the next phase of our growth. Brazil is entering a pivotal moment where demand for cloud and AI capacity is rising quickly, while large-scale, ready-to-deploy infrastructure remains limited.”
“With I Squared’s backing, the company is better positioned to advance new capacity across our existing campuses, expand into additional strategic markets, and develop the large-scale environments hyperscale and AI customers increasingly require. That includes higher-density deployments, more sophisticated cooling architectures, resilient power systems, and faster delivery timelines,” Lombardi added.
