Brazil's Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro) will expand its processing capacity with the construction of two new data centers.

The new facilities will be located in Brasília and São Paulo, according to the website Convergência Digital. The state-owned company is also reportedly negotiating with Telebras to use the company's data center in the federal capital later this year.

In its announcement, Serpo said the Brasília location would be 12MW and be designed to support AI workloads.

The decision comes amid increased demand for infrastructure, driven by the implementation of tax reform and the expansion of the government cloud. According to Serpro's president, Wilton Mota, the company is already operating close to capacity and needs to strengthen its structure to meet ongoing projects.

Mota explained that two sovereign cloud zones have already been installed in Brasília and that the partnership with Telebras will allow for the creation of a third zone, considered essential to complete the federal public cloud environment. He pointed out that, although Telebras' data center is not directly linked to tax reform, its adoption is urgent to ensure the robustness of the infrastructure.

After 39 years at Serpro, Mota took over as president four months ago and faces two key challenges: completing the consumption tax reform system, scheduled to go into operation in 2027, and accommodating a large part of the cloud loads of federal agencies.

Negotiations for Serpro to use Telebras' data center began last year, according to Minister Frederico Siqueira. However, the structure is not sufficient to meet growing demand, leading Serpro to plan the construction of two new data centers in Brasília and in São Paulo.

According to Mota, the Brasília data center project has already started, and operations could start later this year at the Biotic technology park, where Banco do Brasil and Caixa Econômica Federal also operate facilities. The second center, in São Paulo, is in the planning stages.

Mota estimates that each data center will require investments of between R$3 billion (US$570m) and R$4 billion (US$760m) over 10 years, considering implementation, maintenance, and upgrade costs. According to him, the initial investment is around R$1 billion (US$190m) per unit, with the remainder distributed throughout the operation.

This piece was automatically translated from DCD's Spanish site and edited by a member of DCD's editorial staff.