Less than 20% of businesses have migrated to the cloud—an enormous opportunity
En un momento en que América Latina atraviesa una transformación digital acelerada pero aún incompleta, Amazon Web Services anuncia una expansión sostenida en la región: nuevas oficinas en México, centros de datos en seis países y una apuesta de largo plazo sobre un mercado estimado en 500 mil millones de dólares. Menos de uno de cada cinco negocios ha migrado a la nube, una brecha que la compañía no ve como obstáculo sino como horizonte. La pregunta de fondo no es si la nube llegará a la región, sino quién construirá la infraestructura sobre la que se levantará el próximo capítulo económico latinoamericano.
- Con menos del 20% de las empresas latinoamericanas en la nube, AWS identifica una oportunidad masiva y acelera su presencia antes de que lo hagan sus competidores.
- La apertura de oficinas en Monterrey y Jalisco, junto a un nuevo centro de datos en Querétaro, genera expectativa en ecosistemas de startups y empresas tradicionales que buscan escalar sin inversión de capital pesado.
- La adopción cloud creció 31% desde 2020, impulsada por la pandemia, pero ese impulso inicial no alcanza para cubrir la demanda que se proyecta en los próximos años.
- AWS responde con una estrategia de habilitación tecnológica: infraestructura bajo demanda, financiamiento para emprendimientos escalables y soporte técnico directo, como lo ilustra el caso de Nu en Brasil.
- La expansión de zonas de disponibilidad en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México y Perú posiciona a AWS como columna vertebral digital de la región, operando en segundo plano mientras otros construyen la experiencia del usuario.
Amazon Web Services está profundizando su apuesta por América Latina. Jaime Vallés, vicepresidente regional de la compañía, anunció la apertura de dos nuevas oficinas en Monterrey y Jalisco, además de un centro de datos en Querétaro. La estrategia, según Vallés, no responde a un plan rígido sino al ritmo que marquen los propios clientes: la inversión seguirá creciendo mientras la demanda lo exija.
Desde su llegada a la región en 2016 con un servicio básico de almacenamiento, AWS pasó a ofrecer más de 200 servicios en la nube. La adopción regional creció 31% desde 2020, impulsada por la urgencia digital que trajo la pandemia. Sin embargo, menos del 20% de las empresas y aplicaciones de la región han migrado a la nube, lo que Vallés interpreta no como un rezago preocupante sino como una pista de despegue de proporciones extraordinarias. El mercado potencial, estima AWS, asciende a 500 mil millones de dólares.
Para capturarlo, la compañía está desplegando nuevas zonas de disponibilidad en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México y Perú, que se sumarán a su red global de 87 zonas en 27 regiones. Pero la propuesta de AWS va más allá de la infraestructura: ofrece a startups y empresas la posibilidad de escalar sin inversión inicial en hardware, pagando solo por lo que usan, y en algunos casos accediendo a financiamiento directo. El ejemplo más citado es Nu, la fintech brasileña que se convirtió en la más grande de América Latina construida, en parte, sobre infraestructura de AWS.
Entre sus clientes figuran Mercado Libre, Netflix, Banco Itaú y operadoras como Verizon. En todos los casos, AWS opera en segundo plano: provee las herramientas y la capacidad de cómputo mientras otros construyen la experiencia visible. Para los sectores que AWS prioriza —logística, gaming y servicios financieros— esta arquitectura invisible representa la diferencia entre poder probar una idea con bajo riesgo o necesitar capital que pocas startups tienen. La expansión anunciada es, en ese sentido, una declaración de intenciones: AWS quiere estar presente en la transformación digital latinoamericana no solo como proveedor, sino como el andamiaje sobre el que esa transformación se construya.
Amazon Web Services is doubling down on Latin America. In an interview, Jaime Vallés, the company's regional vice president, announced that AWS will open two new offices in the Mexican cities of Monterrey and Jalisco, while simultaneously building a fresh data center in Querétaro. These moves are part of a broader commitment to the region that Vallés framed not as a fixed business plan but as a responsive strategy—the company will keep investing at the pace its customers demand.
The expansion reflects AWS's confidence in the region's digital future. Since launching in 2016 with a basic storage service, the company now offers more than 200 cloud services. Over the past six years, cloud adoption across Latin America has accelerated sharply, growing 31 percent since 2020, when the pandemic forced businesses to seek digital solutions at speed. Yet that growth, while impressive, masks a larger opportunity: fewer than one in five businesses and applications in the region have migrated to the cloud. Vallés sees this gap not as a problem but as an enormous runway for expansion.
The numbers underscore the stakes. AWS estimates the regional market potential at $500 billion. To capture it, the company is rolling out new local data centers—what it calls "availability zones"—across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. These will join AWS's existing global infrastructure of 87 availability zones across 27 geographic regions, with 21 additional zones planned worldwide.
What AWS is really selling, though, is not just computing power. Vallés positioned the company as a technology enabler for any business with an idea. AWS provides the infrastructure itself—so startups don't have to build their own—and charges only for what gets used. The model allows companies to scale rapidly without heavy upfront investment in hardware. The company even offers financing for scalable ventures, pointing to Brazil's Nu as a success story: a fintech that became Latin America's largest of its kind, built partly on AWS infrastructure.
The breadth of AWS's customer base illustrates the reach of this approach. The company supplies infrastructure to Mercado Libre, one of the region's dominant e-commerce platforms, even though AWS and Mercado Libre compete in some markets. It powers Netflix, Banco Itaú in Brazil, PBS Video, and cellular operators like Verizon. In each case, AWS stays in the background, providing the pipes and the tools while others build the customer experience.
Vallés emphasized three core advantages: access to Amazon's best technology from day one, the ability to scale without proportional increases in infrastructure spending, and the chance to build prototypes cheaply. For startups in delivery platforms, gaming, or financial services—the sectors AWS is most actively pushing—this matters enormously. A young company can test an idea, prove its model, and grow to regional scale without the capital burden that would have been unavoidable a decade ago.
The timing reflects a region in transition. The pandemic accelerated digital adoption, but it also exposed how far most Latin American businesses still lag in cloud migration. AWS is betting that the next phase of growth will come from companies that were born digital or are willing to rebuild themselves that way. The new offices and data centers are not just infrastructure investments; they are signals that AWS intends to be present for that transformation, offering not just technology but the financial and technical scaffolding to make it work.
Citas Notables
We will keep investing in the region at the pace our customers demand, moving with the same velocity rather than following a fixed business plan— Jaime Vallés, AWS regional vice president
The fact that fewer than 20% of businesses have migrated to the cloud represents an enormous opportunity for growth— Jaime Vallés, AWS regional vice president
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why is AWS so focused on Latin America right now? There are mature markets elsewhere.
The region is still mostly on-premise. Less than 20 percent of businesses have moved to the cloud. That's not saturation—that's an open field.
But $500 billion is a projection, not revenue. How confident is AWS that money will actually flow?
They're not waiting to find out. They're building data centers in six countries simultaneously. That's a bet, but it's a calculated one. The pandemic proved demand exists.
So this is about capturing growth before competitors do?
Partly that. But also about being the infrastructure layer everyone depends on. If you're the pipes, you win regardless of which company wins the market.
What about the companies that can't afford cloud migration? Are they left behind?
That's the real question. AWS offers financing and tools to make it cheaper, but migration still requires expertise and capital. The gap between early movers and laggards will probably widen.
Is there a risk AWS overextends itself in a region that's still economically volatile?
Possibly. But the cost of not being there when the wave hits is higher than the cost of building ahead of demand.