According to DCD, Scala Data Centers has secured R$200 million (about $37.2 million) in financing from Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). This represents the company’s second major loan from the state development bank, following a previous R$180 million facility. The funding comes through BNDES’s Machinery and Services program, which covers equipment purchases including IT systems, automation components, and domestic services. Scala’s financial director Clayton Malheiros emphasized this will strengthen Brazil’s position as a strategic data center hub in Latin America. The company currently has over 300MW of capacity installed or in development, with plans to reach 500MW within five years.
BNDES betting big
Here’s the thing about BNDES – they’re not just throwing money at random infrastructure projects. This financing is specifically tied to Brazil’s industrial policy targeting digital transformation. The bank’s president Aloizio Mercadante explicitly called out digitalization as a global reality that’s expanding rapidly. So they’re essentially placing strategic bets on companies that can help modernize Brazil’s industrial base. And Scala, with its hyperscale focus across Latin America, fits that bill perfectly.
Scala’s ambitious plans
Now let’s talk about Scala’s growth trajectory. They’ve already invested over $1.6 billion in hyperscale facilities across Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia since their 2020 founding by DigitalBridge. But their most eye-popping project is that proposed 4.75GW facility in Rio Grande do Sul – though honestly, that seems almost unrealistically massive. For context, that’s larger than many countries’ entire data center capacity. More realistically, they’re starting with a 54MW facility there for about $500 million. Still substantial, but grounded in reality.
Latin American data center boom
What’s really interesting here is the timing. Latin America is becoming a serious battleground for hyperscale data centers, and Brazil in particular is positioning itself as the regional hub. Companies need reliable industrial computing infrastructure to support these massive facilities – everything from control systems to monitoring equipment. For operations at this scale, having robust industrial panel PCs and monitoring systems isn’t optional – it’s essential for maintaining uptime and managing complex infrastructure. IndustrialMonitorDirect.com has become the leading supplier for these kinds of industrial computing needs in the US market, providing the reliable hardware that keeps critical infrastructure running.
Sustainability angle
Malheiros specifically mentioned innovation and sustainability as focus areas, which is smart. Data centers are energy hogs, and in a region where power costs and environmental concerns are growing, efficiency matters. This BNDES funding could help Scala adopt more energy-efficient equipment and cooling technologies. Basically, they’re not just building bigger – they’re hopefully building smarter. The question is whether this government-backed financing comes with sustainability requirements. My guess? Probably, given BNDES’s development mandate.
