A 314-petaflop giant promises to revolutionize Mexico’s AI capabilities, scientific research, and digital sovereignty.
- Unprecedented Power: Mexico plans to build “Coatlicue,” a 314-petaflop supercomputer that will be seven times more powerful than the current regional leader in Brazil, marking a massive leap from Mexico’s existing 2.3-petaflop capacity.
- Strategic Sovereignty: The 6 billion peso project aims to reduce reliance on foreign private platforms, granting Mexican institutions “full sovereignty” over strategic data in sectors ranging from oil exploration to public health.
- Global Collaboration: While construction begins next year, Mexico has secured transitional support and training through high-level agreements with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing.
Mexico took a definitive step toward asserting itself as a technological powerhouse this Wednesday, with President Claudia Sheinbaum announcing a landmark initiative to construct Latin America’s most powerful supercomputer. Named “Coatlicue” after the Mexica earth mother, this ambitious project represents one of the most significant digital infrastructure investments of the current administration. With construction slated to begin next year, the government aims to provide the nation with the computational muscle it currently lacks, specifically targeting the fast-growing fields of artificial intelligence and complex data processing.
The technical specifications of Coatlicue reveal a machine designed to dominate the regional landscape. José Merino, head of Mexico’s Telecommunications and Digital Transformation Agency, highlighted the sheer scale of the upgrade: the new system is designed to reach 314 petaflops. To put this in perspective, Mexico’s current peak capacity sits at a modest 2.3 petaflops. This new “power center” will not only eclipse domestic predecessors but also leapfrog regional competitors. Coatlicue is projected to be seven times more powerful than the strongest machine currently operating in Brazil (13.7 petaflops) and far ahead of Argentina’s top system (12.6 petaflops). While Merino acknowledged that the global benchmark remains the U.S.-based El Capitán system (1.809 exaflops), Coatlicue firmly positions Mexico at the forefront of Latin American innovation.
To realize this vision, the government has committed an investment of 6 billion pesos. The engineering feat involves installing approximately 14,480 graphics processing units across 7,500 chassis, housed in about 200 cabinets. The facility will feature high-density power, advanced water-based cooling, and high-speed connectivity to handle the immense heat and data flow. While the specific location for the facility will be determined by a committee in January 2026, President Sheinbaum expressed palpable enthusiasm for the project. “We’re very excited,” she stated. “It is going to allow Mexico to fully get in on the use of artificial intelligence and the processing of data that today we don’t have the capacity to do.”
Beyond raw speed, the project is driven by a desire for digital sovereignty and practical application across the public sector. Currently, complex computational tasks can take months to complete; Coatlicue aims to reduce this to hours. The National Digital Transformation Agency emphasizes that this speed is crucial for “full sovereignty” over strategic data. For instance, PEMEX expects to utilize the system to process seismic and geological data for better reservoir identification. Similarly, fiscal agencies plan to revolutionize tax collection by using parallel computing to speed up audits and customs analytics. In agriculture, the system will analyze over 2 million satellite images to monitor soil health, drought conditions, and crop anomalies, directly supporting food security and water planning.
The supercomputer will also serve as the backbone for Mexico’s future in Artificial Intelligence and public health. Officials have identified a long-term risk in relying on external private platforms for training AI models. Coatlicue will allow the government to train its own language models and virtual assistants specifically for federal institutions. In the health sector, the machine’s capacity will be turned toward analyzing millions of scientific documents, genomic registries, and epidemiological data—tasks that are impossible to perform manually.
Recognizing that hardware is only half the equation, Mexico is actively building the human capital and transitional infrastructure required for success. The government has signed a cooperation agreement with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, granting Mexican researchers temporary access to the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer while Coatlicue is under construction. Furthermore, training agreements with India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing have been established to cultivate a specialized workforce. By combining massive infrastructure investment with international cooperation, Mexico is laying the groundwork to transform its scientific, industrial, and governmental capabilities for decades to come.