KIO Networks, a technology and data storage company founded in 2002 with 100% Mexican capital, has announced a facilities expansion in Querétaro that company officials predict will create 250 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect ones. 

KIO said it is investing US $400 million to buy 25,000 square meters (6.2 acres) of land and build a third data center in an industrial park in the municipality of El Marqués, which is adjacent to the capital of Querétaro City.

“At KIO, we are very proud to continue with our expansion process,” Santiago Suinaga, executive director of KIO Data Centers, said in a press release last week. “Querétaro is a state that will continue to grow as a technological hub and receive [even more] investment in this type of infrastructure. In fact, we are pioneers in the deployment of data centers in the region.”

The new center, scheduled to be built in 2024, will be KIO’s third in the El Marqués Industrial Park. The three centers will interconnect and create a unified ecosystem in a mega-data campus that houses telecommunications providers, cloud hyperscalers and IT service providers.

Currently, Querétaro has 15 data center projects in development, representing what state officials say are investments of US $3 billion.

KIO’s first data center in the area, called QRO1, began operations in 2007 and expanded last year into a fifth hall, for a total space of 4,100 square meters. Construction next door on a second data center, QR02, which will double KIO’s capacity on the campus, is scheduled to begin in coming weeks.

According to its website, KIO provides “mission critical information technology infrastructure services” and operates 40 “cutting-edge” data centers with “the highest security, availability and density in the region to administer and monitor public, private and hybrid cloud services, cybersecurity, business applications, automation and artificial intelligence.”

Founded 21 years ago, KIO operates eight core data centers in Mexico as well as facilities in Spain, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. Purchased by Miami-based I Squared Capital in 2021, KIO used to have two facilities in the United States before selling them six  years ago to the U.S. communications company Zayo, which was then acquired by DataBank. 

“Founded in 2002 with 100% Mexican capital, we are one of the most innovative information technology companies in Latin America,” according to a KIO blurb on iMasons.org.

With reports from El Economista, Data Center Dynamics and México Industry