Jeff Bezos also expects to know who will win the elections: Amazon is analyzing to invest 1,500 USD in the country after October

The news circulates almost two years ago: Amazon, the global e-commerce giant, defines between Argentina and Chile what will be the destination of an investment of up to 1 500 million USD for the construction of a large center data controlling part of its activities in the region. It's not about the success of your online shopping portal, but about Amazon Web Services, the branch of the company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, dedicated to providing cloud services to businesses and it charged $ 25,700 million in 2018, 47 more than the year before.

Amazon has reported in recent weeks a significant investment in Colombia and One wondered if the coffee-producing country had won the fight against Chile and Argentina. Sources close to the society deny it and claim that the one they foresee in Colombia is another type of activity and that we still have to decide where the "Southern Data Center" will be installed.

Although last year, in the midst of the local currency crisis, some Chilean media reported that the presiding country Sebastián Piñera He was chosen, the announcement never took place.

On this side of the Andes, it has even been badumed that the location could be Bahía Blanca, since it allows to have access to energy and cold to cool the material, Senior Cambiemos officials say that "for the moment, they are winning" and that Amazon has already chosen the country, but … There is always a but.

"They are waiting to see what happens with the elections," they say. Today, political polarization and what could happen in economic terms if Cristina Kirchner return to power – and even if she is a candidate – is one of the main arguments of men close to Mauricio Macri when we talk about investments and business plans. This case is not the exception.

"The situation in Colombia does not invalidate the big investment, our dispute is about Chile, we are very optimistic and we talk all the time with Amazon, the relationship is optimal. But they will not decide anything until they see a perspective of political continuity. We are talking about regulatory problems and they want certain regulatory guarantees, such as solving problems to bring certain equipment to the country, for example. These are details, but they are very important to them, "added official sources.

"If another wins, it's not that they will not come, but they will have to start talking again," one official said. "Labor reform was also on the table, which could affect them in a possible operation. It's not gone, but they know that with Macri the theme will come back. They see the local enthusiasm and I do not know if it's the same thing in Chile. Macri is also very interested in the subject, "he says, noting that, in this decision-making context, the government's institutional support Donald Trump in the country

Without details

In the United States, the company does not give more details. "AWS has a long term commitment to Latin America as a region and we hope to extend it through a variety of activities and investments. We are constantly receiving feedback from our customers on areas in which they would like a future investment in the AWS infrastructure and we have a long list of countries to review. We are constantly rebadessing and prioritizing this list, and any Latin American country can be one of the many possibilities that are currently being considered, "said Infobae in the office. Marcos Grilanda, The highest ranking AWS leader for Latin America, not to mention Brazil and Mexico.

The company has confirmed the investment in Bogotá, which will come into effect by the end of 2019. According to them, it will be "an Edge location", a kind of node with which users will be able to access their technologies more easily. They are in most of the world's largest cities and use CloudFront technology "to reduce latency (delay)" of services.

Locally, Amazon also chooses silence. "Nothing is denied or confirmed," they said close to Andrea Cerqueira, the Brazilian who is the national leader of the local operationwhen asked what their preference is for the country they presumed, according to government officials. However, Infobae may know that the company is currently considering hiring more staff. Does this mean anything about the future of the operation? "No comments," they repeated.

Memorandum with change

Mid-2017 Michael Punke, vice president of global public policy for Amazon Web Services, signed with Andrés Ibarra, Minister of Modernization, a one – year agreement protocol to "work together to promote public innovation and use cloud computing to promote the development of new technologies in the cloud. information and communication (ICT) in Argentina ".

Amazon helped train public officials in the use of the cloud and support for business development cloud in Argentina and help the government achieve its ICT modernization goals.

"Argentina has an important role to play in the development of the region and we are committed to working with this country to support innovation through the modernization of ICT, the application of public policies in the region. cloud and technical training to ensure economic growth, "said Punke after signing and went to meet Olivos Macri.

"Argentina has a developed ecosystem of e-commerce and e-commerce, Mercado Libre, OLX, Frávega and VTEX, for example, operates in the AWS cloud infrastructure, startups such as Ualá, Etermax, Nubi or established and more traditional companies.As Diarco supermarkets, they also operate through AWS.In Argentina, we have customers from all sectors, from small emerging companies to large companies, "said Grilanda in an exclusive interview with Infobae, a year ago.

The richest human company in the world, with a net worth of 151,000 million USD, could invest in the country. But Chile is still in the race despite the confidence of local officials, for whom everything will be defined after October. Despite the rumors, for now everything seems to be about the same as it was two years ago.