The possible installation of a global-scale data center near Trelew has opened a dispute combining technology investment, natural-resource use and state incentives. Polish-backed Green Capital signed a memorandum with several companies at the Polish Embassy on July 30 to advance Atlas GigaHub, a campus designed for artificial-intelligence processing.
The project has political support from Governor Ignacio Torres and involved PromArgentina, the national investment and trade promotion agency. The company had leased roughly 130,000 hectares belonging to fourteen owners near Trelew a year and a half earlier. That territorial scale points to infrastructure requiring energy, connectivity, roads and a stable supply system.
A technical report by Ingenieros Argentinos Asociados identified wind resources, solar potential, a cold climate, large available areas and access to water as Chubut's advantages. Water is the most contested point. Data centers use large amounts of energy and cooling, and the critical assessment circulated about Atlas GigaHub estimates that a very high share of freshwater used in cooling may be lost through evaporation.
The debate comes as provincial river basins show signs of stress. The cited diagnosis for the Chubut River describes a deficit near 50% and, in some readings, up to 70% below historical averages. The Senguer basin is also mentioned after decades of pressure from water-intensive productive activities.
The legislature itself declared a one-year water emergency on August 6. The law seeks to guarantee drinking water for residents and producers as river flows decline and authorizes the Provincial Water Institute and the Infrastructure, Energy and Planning Secretariat to take urgent action, contract services and carry out works. The government emphasized natural causes; critics demand that industrial consumption be included.
At the same time, bill 84/26 created a proposed Provincial Regime to Promote the Knowledge Economy. It establishes a special siting mechanism allowing the fast-track transfer, allocation or sale of public land for technology companies. It also provides labor subsidies and exemptions, reductions or rebates of up to 100% on stamp tax, property tax and related fees.
The ruling coalition removed the bill from the committee agenda on October 14, but the dispute remains open. The Workers' Party says the government plans to restore it after a public debate and approve it in the October 29 session. Its opposition links water protection with criticism of land transfers and the fiscal cost of a regime tailored to a specific investment.
Before lawmakers decide, several questions require documented answers: how much water the campus will need, which cooling technology it will use, where its energy will come from, what public land may be affected and what the province will receive in return. Without a verifiable environmental and economic assessment, the digital-hub promise will continue to collide with a water emergency already recognized by the state.
