datacenterHawk Chile's Permitting Breakthrough: From 12 Months to 6
Mar 10, 2026
Francisco Basoalto, Managing Director of Equinix Chile and Peru, leads Equinix’s local expansion after the Entel acquisition. He discusses Chile’s environmental permitting reform that trims approvals from about 12 months to roughly six. Conversation covers Equinix’s retail growth and interconnection push, Santiago’s first liquid-cooling AI-ready facility, and Chile’s renewable energy and connectivity advantages.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Equinix Entered Chile By Acquiring Entel Assets
- Equinix entered Chile by acquiring Entel’s data center assets in 2022 and integrated them into its global platform.
- Francisco Basoalto led the integration, growing Equinix’s retail share to ~38% through investments in neutrality, interconnection, and new products like Equinix Fabric.
Design For Mixed AI And Cloud Density
- Data center design must balance low- and high-density workloads as AI grows, requiring flexible architectures.
- Equinix built Santiago’s first liquid-cooling capable facility to host AI-heavy, high-power racks while keeping cloud nodes with lower per-rack power in mind.
Prepare For Faster Environmental Permits
- Expect environmental permit timelines to shorten after Chile raised the fuel-waste threshold, cutting approvals for new data centers from over a year to roughly six months.
- This regulatory change applies to projects previously forced into full environmental impact review due to backup fuel criteria.