“TikTok’s massive data centre in Brazil raises concerns”, 4 June 2026

Chinese technology giant TikTok’s data centre being developed in a drought-prone part of northern Brazil has faced scrutiny over its water use, infringement on local indigenous rights and data security concerns.

The ByteDance-owned social media company announced plans in December 2025 to invest up to R$200bn ($40.5bn) by 2035 to build its first Latin America data centre campus at the Pecém export processing zone (ZPE Ceará), located in one of Brazil’s poorest states…

…will be developed by Omnia, a data centre operator backed by asset manager Patria Investments. The company struck a $2bn deal on May 18 with renewables developer Casa dos Ventos to supply an initial 300MW of power from wind farms in Ceará and the neighbouring state of Piauí.

“The Pecém data centre continues to be built according to schedule [with initial operations beginning in 2027],” an Omnia spokesperson tells fDi via email…

As with many parts of the world, the rush to build data centres has faced local opposition. Campaigners and academics have scrutinised the TikTok data centre’s use of water and power in a drought-prone region, a lack of consultation with indigenous communities and data security concerns…

Omnia tells fDi that the project is “designed to operate with low water consumption, using a closed-loop cooling system, with estimated consumption below 30 cubic metres per day under a maximum-demand scenario, without competing with local water supply”…

The data centre hub is being developed as export-oriented digital infrastructure under ZPE Ceará’s regulatory framework. TikTok Brazil tells fDi in a statement that the “facility’s services are intended exclusively for external markets” and will only serve the TikTok app, rather than any other ByteDance products or for AI training workloads. The data centre will not serve Brazil, the US, Europe or China, according to TikTok Brazil.

“TikTok complies with applicable data protection regulations, including Brazil’s [data protection law] LGPD where applicable, as well as its global standards for security, governance and data protection,” they add.

…technology experts have questioned the extent to which any country, including Brazil, can truly control and regulate the use of data within foreign-owned digital infrastructure…

Casa dos Ventos, one of Brazil’s largest renewable energy developers and partially owned by France’s TotalEnergies, believe Brazil has a comparative advantage in attracting data centres due to its potential for electricity generation from clean sources…