Brazil launches AI supercomputer push while balancing US and Chinese tech

What the report says

Brazil’s government has announced about 2.3 billion reais ($444.2 million) in new spending to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure, in a plan that divides major projects between US and Chinese technology partners. The move reflects President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s broader effort to keep working relationships with both powers while reducing dependence on any single supplier.

According to the report published by Al Jazeera and based on Reuters reporting, a little more than half of the funding — 1.3 billion reais — will go toward a supercomputing project in Rio de Janeiro developed with Huawei and iFlytek. Officials said that system will support the creation of large language models for general and industry-specific uses.

The remaining 1 billion reais will be used for a separate supercomputer expected to rank among the world’s most powerful AI processors. That machine is planned for Rio Grande do Norte, in Brazil’s northeast, where the government says energy capacity made the location attractive. The report said officials expect Nvidia to win the tender, though that had not been formally confirmed.

The investments will be financed through Brazil’s national science and technology fund. Beyond the hardware purchases, the announcement highlights Brazil’s attempt to strengthen data sovereignty and build domestic AI capacity at a time of intensifying US-China technology competition. The government said the supercomputer should start operating by the end of next year, while the Huawei and iFlytek cooperation is due to begin in July 2027.