Paraguay Aims to Become South America's Tech Hub

Sun Oct 19 2025 20:05:12 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Gabriela Cibils leads a mission to transform Paraguay into a technology paradise, leveraging cheap green energy and a young workforce.

Paraguay is positioning itself as a potential tech powerhouse in South America, spearheaded by Gabriela Cibils, who returns from Silicon Valley to transform the local landscape. With its abundant hydroelectric power, the country aims to attract global tech giants and create a burgeoning tech ecosystem with substantial government and private investment. However, there are challenges ahead, including training talent and overcoming bureaucratic obstacles.

Gabriela Cibils is on a mission – to help turn Paraguay into the Silicon Valley of South America.

When she was growing up in the landlocked country, nestled between Brazil and Argentina, she says the nation wasn't super tech focused. But it was different for Ms Cibils, as her parents worked in the technology sector. And she was inspired to study in the US, where she got a degree in computing and neuroscience from the University of California, Berkeley.

After graduating she spent eight years working in Silicon Valley, near San Francisco, with roles at various American start-ups. But rather than staying permanently in the US, a few years ago she decided to return home to Paraguay. She's now helping to lead efforts to build a large and successful tech sector that puts the country of seven million people on the world map - and attract some of the globe's tech giants.

I saw first hand the impact that technology can have on your life, says Ms Cibils. After being exposed to such a different world [in Silicon Valley], it's my responsibility to bring that mindset back and combine it with the talent I see in Paraguay.

She is now a partner at global technology and investment firm Cibersons, headquartered in Paraguay's capital Asunción.

While most countries would love to build a world-class tech sector, Paraguay has a distinct advantage in one regard – an abundance of cheap, green electricity. This is thanks to 100% of its generation now coming from hydroelectric power.

This is centred on the giant Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River, which forms part of the border between Paraguay and Brazil. This huge hydroelectric power station, the largest in the world outside of China, supplies 90% of Paraguay's electricity needs, and 10% of Brazil's.

In fact, such is Paraguay's surplus of electricity that its electricity prices are the lowest in South America. And it is the world's largest exporter of clean energy.

The Paraguayan government hopes that the country's abundance of cheap, green electricity will attract global tech firms increasingly focused on the massive energy demands of AI computing.

If you want to install any technology investment like AI data centres, keep in mind hydroelectric power is both renewable and steady, says Paraguayan software development entrepreneur Sebastian Ortiz-Chamorro.

On a visit to California last year, Paraguay's President Santiago Peña spoke with companies like Google and OpenAI to encourage them to invest in Paraguay. It remains to be seen if such industry giants open large operations in the country.

Even though the park isn't ready yet, Mr Villate says the collaboration already happening in the public, private and university sectors is key to building an ecosystem to attract foreign investors.

However, there are still growing pains for foreign investors, with bureaucracy and other challenges ahead. Nonetheless, as Ms Cibils states, if you put innovation at its core and leverage all the benefits that the country has I think Paraguay can be a superpower.