Paraguay’s Iguazú AI City plan puts power supply at the centre of a US$12bn ambition
Araico is pitching a hyperscale computing campus in Yguazú. The headline figure remains a project ambition; near-term execution turns on a signed electricity agreement, staged financing and confirmed customers.
NEWS | 5 OCTOBER 2026
Araico has presented Iguazú AI City, a planned data-centre campus in Yguazú, Alto Paraná, with a headline investment ambition of US$12 billion. The developer’s website describes a 1.3 GW flagship platform; Araico director Alejandro Zuccolillo told ABC Color that the first three phases would require about 280 MW. These are different measures: the larger figure is a long-term campus concept, while 280 MW refers to the initial development plan reported by the company.
The proposed rollout is staged. According to the 30 September interview, a first 6 MW phase is targeted for December 2026, followed by two phases of roughly 130 MW each, expected in 2028 and 2029. The company said the first phase would involve US$300 million, while later phases would require substantially more capital. These remain announced targets rather than completed investment or operating capacity.
Electricity is the immediate gating issue. Araico said negotiations with the state utility ANDE were advanced and that a long-term supply contract was ready for signature, with an initial price of US$45/MWh and annual adjustment. The report also records that ANDE had said no tariff category existed specifically for this kind of AI data-centre load. As of that reporting, the agreement had not been signed. The proposed price, adjustment formula and timetable should therefore be treated as company statements, not settled tariff terms.
If delivered, the campus could convert Paraguay’s renewable-power advantage into exportable computing services and demand for construction, fibre, cooling, electrical engineering and professional services. For investors, however, the investment headline is only the starting point. The meaningful milestones are a binding power agreement, committed financing for each phase, grid readiness, permits, equipment procurement and customer contracts. Araico identifies global compute demand as its target, but public confirmation of contracted workloads will matter as much as the campus design.
The useful follow-up for Paraguay Business Hub is a “what must happen next” brief: distinguish the proposed 1.3 GW platform from the first 280 MW of planned demand, track ANDE’s formal tariff decision, and test each phase against financing and customer evidence. That framing lets readers assess the opportunity without treating a large announced figure as capital already deployed.
Sources
- Araico — Iguazu AI Campus platform (company project description)
- ABC Color — Araico says ANDE power contract for AI centre is imminent (30 Sep. 2026)
- Intelligent CIO LATAM — Paraguay’s US$12bn Iguazú AI City targets AI infrastructure (5 Oct. 2026)
© Paraguay Business Hub. Original reporting and analysis based on the sources linked above. The project figures and schedules attributed to Araico or its representatives are stated plans and remain subject to execution.