Brazilian data center firm Elea is the company behind a recently-announced gigawatt-scale campus in Rio de Janeiro.

News of the “Rio AI City” project was revealed at the opening of the Web Summit Rio in April by Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes.

This month, Brazilian data center firm Elea confirmed it was the operator behind the project.

“We are talking about a data center city designed for the future, creating an ecosystem between community, sustainability, and technological innovation. Rio AI City is born with energy available and connectivity, and it is a project capable of attracting the brains that will design the world to come. We see Brazil and Rio de Janeiro positioning themselves at the global epicenter of digital transformation,” said Alessandro Lombardi, president and founder of Elea Data Centers.

At the campus, located in the city’s Olympic Park, construction work is underway on the RJO2 data center, which will begin delivering 80MW capacity in 2026.

This will be followed by the delivery of the RJO3 and RJO4 sites, adding a further 120MW. Further developments will take the site to 1.5GW in the first phase, which includes the existing RJ01 building, with the potential to reach up to 3.2GW in future phases.

Renders of the campus suggest around 27 buildings could be developed at full build-out.

Elea has said the campus will use waterless cooling and offset its energy use with renewable power deals.

“Rio is consolidating its position as the capital of the new economy. Projects like Rio AI City show we are ready to lead the digital revolution with sustainability, inclusion, and innovation. This initiative reinforces our commitment to transforming Rio into a major global technology hub, attracting investment, generating quality jobs, and connecting our city to the future,” added Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

Elea was founded by Piemonte Holding in 2019, and in 2021 was invested in by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The company has seven data centers across Brasília (two), Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Porto Alegre (two). It has previously acquired data centers from TIM, Globo, and Oi.

The company’s existing Rio facility was acquired from Brazilian media firm Globo in 2021. Globo built the 5,225 sqm (56,200 sq ft) facility in 2016 as part of its effort to cover the Brazilian Olympics in Rio.

Versions of this story appeared on our Spanish and Portuguese editions.