KIO Data Centers doubles down on Querétaro with a US $1.3B expansion plan
KIO Networks, a leading Mexican data center operator, announced plans to invest up to $1.3 billion in a third data center facility in Querétaro by 2030, positioning the company to meet escalating demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure from U.S. markets.
The company will develop the QR03 project at the El Marqués Industrial Park on the eastern outskirts of Querétaro city. The expansion is expected to generate more than 8,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region.
CEO Octavio Camarena Villalvazo announced the investment during an event attended by Querétaro Governor Mauricio Kuri González and Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón. Camarena emphasized the critical role data centers play in the digital economy.
"Without world-class data centers, there is no cloud, no smart manufacturing, no digitized data, and no artificial intelligence," Camarena said.
The announcement comes as KIO, founded in 2002 and owned by infrastructure investor I Squared Capital since 2021, continues aggressive expansion across its regional footprint. The company operates 20 data centers across Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Colombia with over 26 megawatts of combined IT capacity.
Querétaro's unprecedented data center concentration
The latest investment reinforces Querétaro's position as Mexico's dominant data center hub. The central state now concentrates 79% of Mexico's total data center capacity, with 186 megawatts in operation as of May 2025. This concentration exceeds even major global hubs like Northern Virginia, which holds 35% of U.S. capacity, and Singapore, which accounts for 60% of its national total.
KIO has been a pioneer in the region since launching its first Querétaro facility, QRO1, in 2007 at Parque Industrial El Marqués with 2.5 megawatts of capacity. The company recently completed phases two and three of its second facility, QRO2, with a cumulative investment of $170 million.
Data centers now represent 60% of the $20 billion in foreign investment secured during Governor Kuri's administration, underscoring the sector's economic importance to the state. Major operators including AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Equinix, ODATA, CloudHQ, Ascenty, and Huawei maintain operations or infrastructure projects in Querétaro.
Nearshoring fuels market expansion
The investment wave reflects a broader market transformation driven by nearshoring, as U.S. companies relocate production and digital infrastructure closer to North American markets. Mexico's data center market has more than doubled in two years, expanding from 115.5 megawatts in 2024 to 235 megawatts in 2025 and reaching 279 megawatts by April 2026.
The artificial intelligence segment is experiencing particularly rapid growth. Mexico's AI data center market was valued at $70 million in 2025 and is projected to expand at a 24.55% compound annual growth rate to reach $261.5 million by 2031. Hyperscale cloud providers AWS, Microsoft, and Google have earmarked a combined $6.3 billion for new cloud infrastructure in the country.
Beyond Querétaro, KIO plans to invest over $200 million in 2026 across projects and expansions in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guatemala, targeting growing demand for cloud and AI infrastructure.
The Mexican Association of Data Centers projects that by 2031, approximately $20 billion will be directly invested in data centers nationwide, with an additional $64 billion in indirect investment, much of it concentrated in Querétaro.
Querétaro's technology sector is accelerating, with projected growth between 18% and 23% in 2026, up from 12% growth in 2025. The state maintains a density of 46.3 data centers per million dollars of GDP, reflecting its specialized position in Mexico's technology infrastructure landscape.
