Azure is the first of the world's three major public clouds to go live in Mexico!
China has been Mexico's second largest trading partner in the world for many years. Mexico is also a key country for Chinese enterprises to carry out investment and cooperation in Latin America. According to statistics, the bilateral trade volume between China and Mexico in 2023 will increase by more than 7,000 times compared with the establishment of diplomatic relations. Chinese investment in Mexico is mainly concentrated in the fields of mining, energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, finance, and industrial parks.
In recent years, Mexico's economy has performed well and has continued to grow steadily, compared to other countries in Latin America. The source of Mexico's economic growth is its relatively good business environment and geographical advantages. Mexico's economic performance in Latin America is second only to Brazil, the second most populous country and the second largest economy in Latin America, and because of its proximity to the United States and perfect industrial infrastructure, it has become a destination for a large number of Chinese companies to go overseas to North America. For Chinese companies that are currently focusing on going overseas, the Latin American market is the "last blue ocean". When it comes to Chinese enterprises going overseas, the automotive industry bears the brunt. In February this year, Li Ke, executive vice president and president of BYD in the Americas, said that BYD had confirmed its plan to build a factory in Mexico and would complete the site selection by the end of this year. On April 6, BYD General Manager Vallejo said that BYD wants to further increase the penetration of electric vehicles in Mexico. Before BYD, there were already a number of Chinese car companies entering the Mexican market, including Changan, JAC, Geely and so on. In 2024, according to the Mexican Institute of Statistics and the Mexican Association of Automobile Dealers, Chinese car brands already account for 19.5% of the market share in Mexico. In 2022 alone, 2,100 new Chinese companies were registered in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Investing in Mexico has become an unstoppable global trend. Not only China, but other countries are also accelerating their deployment in Mexico. In 2022, Tesla announced that it would build a factory in Monterey, a city in northern Mexico, near Texas. Automakers such as BMW and Stellantis are also expanding their NEV production business to Mexico. In 2023, Mexico received $36.058 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), most of which came from high-tech manufacturing. It is foreseeable that the scale of Chinese investment in Latin America will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, and Mexico will become the focus of this round of investment.
Microsoft announced its first region in Mexico, the Mexico Central Regional GA, to provide locally scalable, highly available, and resilient cloud services to all organizations around the world, confirming its commitment to driving digital transformation and sustainable innovation in Mexico. This new cloud region consists of multiple data centers in Queretaro Metropolitan with three Availability Zones. It will deliver security, privacy, and high performance, and accelerate digital transformation for organizations and public institutions in Latin America. Together, Microsoft, its partners and customers will create more than 300,000 jobs in Mexico over the next four years3.
Meet Mexico's need for secure, scalable, and localized cloud services
The Microsoft cloud includes Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and gaming services, which will be delivered on-premises through the new Central Mexico datacenter region.
This hyperscale infrastructure in the Mexico region enables customers to quickly and easily adapt their systems to meet growing demand. The on-premises hyperscale cloud region will serve Mexican companies that need to run their services within Mexico, as well as global organizations looking to leverage the Mexico region to accelerate their digital transformation.
Among the organizations taking advantage of this new project, key Microsoft Express Route partners such as Kio Networks, MCM Telecom and Megaport are offering a range of new digital connectivity solutions to Mexican companies and public administrations. Since the start of the infrastructure, many companies have started using Express Route services in the Mexico region.
The impact of Microsoft's establishment of a cloud region in Mexico
According to IDC's research, this new data center region will drive economic growth, create jobs to sustain digital innovation, and provide more than 110,000 opportunities for professional services, 52,000 in business, 43,000 in finance, 58,000 in manufacturing, and 40,000 in communications and media, including jobs generated directly within their organizations and indirectly generated in other organizations.
Over the past two years, Microsoft has provided different training opportunities, training and retraining to more than 1.3 million Mexicans through local partners and NGOs. IDC expects more than 65,000 people to acquire skills in IT by 2027.
Tito Arciniega, President of Microsoft Latin America, said: "Mexican companies have demonstrated creativity, craftsmanship and entrepreneurship in the global marketplace, cementing their position as one of the most respected and trusted brands in the world. We believe that Mexico's vibrant business environment should have a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure. With our new cloud data center region in Mexico, we are empowering Mexican organizations to seize the opportunities of the digital age, expand their operations internationally more easily, and help them exceed customer expectations during this period of intense innovation and beyond." ”
Innovation accelerates Mexico's economic growth
Thousands of customers and partners in Mexico have already begun to transform their businesses with Microsoft cloud services. They include schools, universities, organizations, and companies from various industries. Microsoft's hyperscale cloud data center region began operations, working with some customers, such as Binaria ID and DocSolutions, who are already experiencing the benefits of this infrastructure:
For DocSolutions, the early access service in Mexico allows us to accelerate automated processes for our regulated customers, thanks to Microsoft's certification in its data centers. The ability to store and process information within Mexico, as well as to reduce data transfer delays, has greatly contributed to the adoption of some of our solutions, such as the SoluSign e-signature platform and our digital onboarding platform.
Freud Cuevas
DocSolutions
Director of Consulting and TechHub
Storage and processing within MexicoWith more control over data in Mexican territory, Binaria ID has successfully enhanced the trust and digital certainty of its customers under the early access service in Mexico. For Binaria ID's customers, a company focused on certificates and digital identities, it is very important to know that their data will always be protected by the highest security standards guaranteed by Microsoft.
Jose Ramon Martinez
BinariaID平台架构经理
Next-generation data centers help organizations achieve their sustainability goals
This new cloud region will also help businesses achieve their sustainability goals, in line with current priorities, as Microsoft datacenters are designed with sustainability and circular economy principles in mind. Microsoft is expected to be carbon negative by 2030, and by 2050, Microsoft will remove from the environment all carbon emissions emitted by the company since its founding in 1975, either directly or through electricity consumption, including our data center operations. By 2025, we will move to 100% renewable energy supply, which means we will enter into green energy purchase agreements for 100% of the carbon-emitting electricity consumed by our data centers.
Through modernization and innovation, we are reducing the amount of cooling water used in our data centers. We expect to use water to cool our data centers in Mexico to less than 5% per year2.
Mexico Central: Cloud data center regional availability
Mexico is a leading country in Latin America in terms of cloud adoption, but it is also a country full of contrasts and traditions; It is also a country of innovation, where technology and business are constantly evolving to meet the challenges and opportunities of a changing world. Explore the stories of three companies in Mexico that are using technology to create a culture that is reshaping and impacting the economy and society: the cloud culture.