Mexico and Artificial Intelligence: An Ecosystem Growing in Earnest
If I had to pick a single Latin American market to watch closely over the next two or three years in artificial intelligence, I would choose Mexico. Not because it is the most mature in terms of public policy—Brazil and Chile hold the edge there—but because the combination of factors converging right now is hard to ignore.
There is ecosystem growth, investment is beginning to take shape, talent is developing, and the country holds a geographic and economic position that gives it a window other markets in the region simply do not have. The challenge is that this window will not stay open indefinitely.
The numbers behind the story
Between 2018 and 2024, the number of companies dedicated to artificial intelligence in Mexico grew by 965%. That is not a typo. It went from virtually zero to 362 AI companies, generating more than 11,000 jobs and attracting over $500 million in investment, according to the study "La era de la IA en México" by Endeavor México and Santander México.
In terms of direct AI investment, Mexico closed 2024 with roughly $100 million, with 2025 projections exceeding $450 million. AI accounted for 34% of the investment rounds closed in Latin America during 2024 (LAVCA), and Mexico carries significant weight in that figure. Mexico City has established itself as one of the most active hubs in the ecosystem: events like AI Fest have brought together players such as Google, NVIDIA, and HubSpot with founders and investors from across the region.
In the context of the ILIA 2025 index, Mexico appears with 51.40 points in the adopters category. It is not a leadership position, but it is the position of a market that has the conditions to advance—and is beginning to use them.
Why Mexico holds a differentiated position
Nearshoring: The relocation of manufacturing is creating genuine demand for intelligent automation. The plants being installed today in Nuevo León, Guanajuato, Jalisco, or Baja California need operational efficiency from day one, and AI—in logistics, quality control, predictive maintenance—is part of that equation from the outset.
Market scale: With more than 130 million people and one of the world's 15 largest economies, Mexico has enough scale for AI-based business models to be viable without needing to leave the domestic market immediately. That lowers the barrier to entry for new ventures.
Proximity to the United States: This is no small thing. Many Latin American technology companies seeking access to the North American market see Mexico as the most natural combination of cultural proximity, compatible time zone, and logistics infrastructure.
Talent in the pipeline: More than 40 institutions in Mexico now offer formal programs in AI, data science, and automation—from UNAM and IPN to Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Universidad Iberoamericana. Demand for AI specialists is set to grow at least 30% over the next two years, and the educational supply is responding.
The sectors where something real is already happening
The financial sector is the most advanced. Banks, fintechs, and insurers are using AI for fraud detection, product personalization, and credit risk analysis. Fintechs, more agile by nature, have in many cases integrated it from the start.
Retail and e-commerce also show results: recommendation personalization, inventory optimization, and demand forecasting where transaction volume is large enough to feed the models.
Manufacturing—powered by nearshoring—is incorporating AI into predictive maintenance, computer vision for quality control, and production-line optimization. The trend will accelerate as more new facilities are designed with these capabilities from the ground up.
The challenges we should not downplay
Public policy on AI is still developing. The National Artificial Intelligence Agenda (ANIA) exists, but there is no consolidated national strategy with clear targets, allocated budget, and monitoring mechanisms. Compared with Chile or Brazil, Mexico has work to do at the institutional level.
The geographic concentration of the ecosystem is another factor. The vast majority of AI companies and technical talent are in Mexico City. The rest of the country faces a significant digital divide. And the fragmentation of the business landscape matters: Mexico has millions of micro and small enterprises that, by scale and resources, are far from being able to adopt AI on their own.
A medium-term perspective
Mexico has what it takes to become the reference AI market in Latin America. 58% of Mexicans perceive AI's impact on society as positive (Endeavor México / Santander 2024)—a favorable cultural foundation that not every market has.
What it takes to capitalize on that position is consistency: in public policy, in investment in training, in developing data infrastructure, and in companies' willingness to move from experimentation to serious implementation. The window is open. It is worth using.
Sources: Endeavor México / Santander México (La era de la IA en México, 2024), LAVCA 2024, ECLAC / CENIA (ILIA 2025), konfia.ai, Microsoft LATAM, Gartner, IDC.
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Andrés Lozada
Executive Director, SUMāTO Group · Cloud · Infrastructure · Cybersecurity · Digital Transformation
linkedin.com/in/andreslozada/
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