Neuquén and Chubut have power, cold air and empty land — and none of the capacity on offer there has been built yet.

Investors looking for sites for large AI data centers have begun scouting Patagonia, at Argentina's southern tip, Reuters reported. Three projects are on the table in Neuquén and Chubut, and OpenAI's Stargate Argentina has been waiting for a contract since October.

The established hubs are full: CBRE puts vacancy in Northern Virginia at 0.3%, and the U.S. build-out keeps running into local campaigns against data centers. Argentina has none of that, and no large data centers either; Amazon is building one in Chile and Google in Uruguay.

Pampa Energía wants a data center at Loma de la Lata, its thermal power station in Neuquén, taking up to 500 MW of Vaca Muerta gas. Investors want a 20–40 MW pilot first, and the grid infrastructure for the full 500 MW would cost nearly $900 million. Mapuche families around the plant have clashed with energy companies for years.

FlexDomes is seeking backers for a $1.4 billion, 120 MW venture in Neuquén. In Chubut, Green Capital plans a $3 billion first stage of 300 MW, growing to 3,000 MW, on 501 leased square miles south of Trelew, with wind and solar farms of its own so the site can stay off the national grid.

OpenAI said last October it would work with the local company Sur Energy on a data center costing up to $25 billion, with up to 500 MW, the first Stargate site in Latin America. No contract has followed: Sur Energy co-founder Emiliano Kargieman said in August that it was now for OpenAI to sign.

The RIGI regime gives large projects tax breaks and regulatory stability, and a decree this year brought artificial intelligence into the activities it covers.

"Everyone is looking for power, that's why international developers are looking at Argentina," Hadassa Lutz of the advisory firm Cloud2Ground told Reuters. "But saying you have power is not enough."

Transmission and fiber are unsettled, funding is short, and some investors are waiting for the 2027 election. A site tour for prospective builders, organized by the nonprofit iMasons, has been postponed three times and is now set for February.