Brazil is stepping up efforts to build its artificial intelligence capabilities with planned investments of about 2.3 billion reais ($444.2 million), while dividing major projects between U.S. and Chinese technology companies.
Of the total, 1.3 billion reais will support a supercomputing infrastructure project in Rio de Janeiro developed with China’s Huawei Technologies and iFlytek. The government said the infrastructure will mainly support the development of large language models for general and sector-specific applications.
Another 1 billion reais will be allocated through a tender for a supercomputer that Brazil expects to rank among the 10 most powerful AI processing machines in the world.
The system will be installed in Rio Grande do Norte, in northeastern Brazil, which was selected for its energy potential. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the announcement ceremony in the state on Thursday.
Government officials said they expect U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to win the tender. Science and Technology Minister Luciana Santos also said last week that she expected Nvidia to supply the machine.
“The strategy is not to depend on a single company, technology or country,” Lula’s administration said, adding that the investments are intended to strengthen Brazil’s national sovereignty over data.
China has become Brazil’s largest trading partner and continues to expand its role in the country’s AI sector. The U.S. remains the biggest source of foreign direct investment in Brazil, even as its share of trade has declined and it has recently imposed additional tariffs on Brazilian goods.
The projects will be funded by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT) through phased disbursements. Brazil expects the new supercomputer to begin operating by the end of 2027, while the cooperation agreement with the Chinese companies is scheduled to begin in July 2027.
The government also announced a partnership with Spain to develop semiconductors using the open-source RISC-V architecture. Other plans include a Brazilian cloud-computing service through public-private partnerships and the future creation of a national centre for algorithmic transparency and trustworthy AI, to be operated by the Federal University of Minas Gerais.
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