OpenAI Bets on Brazil: Why Should Your Startup Build Software Development Teams Here

OpenAI’s decision to expand its presence in Brazil goes far beyond opening another office. It reinforces a transformation that has been taking place for years: Brazil is no longer just a major technology consumer market. It is becoming a strategic hub for software development, artificial intelligence and expansion across Latin America.

According to UOL, Brazil was selected to host OpenAI’s first office in the Americas outside the United States. The country is already among ChatGPT’s three largest global markets, with approximately 50 million monthly users, ranks second worldwide in the number of developers using OpenAI tools, and generates around 215 million ChatGPT messages every day. OpenAI also intends to use its Brazilian operation as a hub for Latin America.

For international startups evaluating where to establish their next engineering, support or regional operations team, these numbers are particularly relevant. They show that Brazil is not only a market to enter. It is increasingly a market from which companies can build, operate and scale throughout LATAM.

Brazil is already OpenAI’s second-largest developer market

According to iMasters, Brazil is currently the second-largest market worldwide for developers using OpenAI’s API. The country also leads Codex adoption in Latin America.

This should attract the attention of startup founders, CTOs, VPs of Engineering and product leaders looking for locations where they can expand development capacity without creating a disconnected offshore organization.

The traditional offshore model based almost exclusively on labor arbitrage is increasingly being replaced by more integrated structures: dedicated development pods, agile squads, IT bodyshop, staff augmentation and global engineering teams that operate directly against the company’s roadmap.

This is precisely where Brazil becomes strategically relevant.

International startups can establish anything from a single specialist to a complete software engineering pod through Macher Tecnologia’s IT outsourcing, bodyshop and Team-as-a-Service models. Professionals can work inside the client’s own processes, tools, sprints and governance structure instead of operating as a separate outsourced delivery organization.

AI is changing the economics of global software development

AI coding tools, copilots and development agents are changing the productivity equation for technology teams and tech-rooted startups. As a result, comparing development locations exclusively based on the hourly cost of an engineer is becoming increasingly inadequate.

A better question is: how much can a skilled, AI-enabled engineering pod actually deliver? And how can it contribute to the overall product strategy?

A team combining software developers, QA engineers, DevOps professionals, architects and technical leadership can use AI to accelerate development, testing, documentation, troubleshooting, requirements analysis and portions of the DevOps lifecycle.

The potential result is not necessarily fewer engineers, but more efficient teams capable of producing more value with less operational friction.

At the same time, AI does not remove the need for strong engineering talent. AI-generated software still requires human review of architecture, security, business logic, integrations and quality. This makes experienced engineers capable of working effectively with AI tools increasingly valuable.

Brazil’s position at the intersection of software engineering and AI adoption therefore creates an attractive opportunity for international startups looking to scale their product organizations.

AI adoption in Brazil is already happening at scale

This trend is not limited to ChatGPT.

Research commissioned by AWS and conducted by Strand Partners found that 40% of Brazilian companies already use artificial intelligence. Among businesses adopting AI, 95% reported revenue growth, with an average increase of 31%.

The AWS research on AI adoption in Brazil shows that artificial intelligence is already becoming part of real business operations rather than remaining limited to experimental projects.

For international startups choosing where to establish a development center, this matters. Brazil offers access not only to developers, but to professionals working within a broader business ecosystem that is already incorporating AI into day-to-day workflows.

Brazil has a software market worth more than US$20 billion

Brazil’s technology ecosystem also has significant scale.

According to ABES and IDC data on the Brazilian technology market, the country’s software segment alone generates more than US$20 billion annually, within a much larger IT industry.

Brazil concentrates a substantial share of Latin American technology investment and has a mature ecosystem including major banks, fintechs, SaaS companies, startups, multinational technology companies, universities and research centers.

For an international startup, establishing engineering capacity in Brazil therefore means much more than recruiting developers from an outsourcing destination.

It means connecting to the largest technology ecosystem in Latin America.

Rio AI City adds infrastructure to Brazil’s AI proposition

Brazil’s growing AI ecosystem is not limited to software and talent.

In 2025, the City of Rio de Janeiro announced the Rio AI City project, which plans to create a major data center infrastructure hub around the Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca. The project targets 1.8 GW of capacity by 2027, with potential expansion to 3 GW by 2032, supported by dedicated clean energy and water infrastructure.

The Rio AI City initiative is intended to position Rio de Janeiro as one of Latin America’s most important computing infrastructure hubs, complementing existing technology and startup ecosystems such as the Maravalley, with more than 600 active connected members.

This adds another layer to Brazil’s strategic value proposition.

The country already combines market scale, developers, universities, startups and high AI adoption. Investments in computing infrastructure add another reason for international companies to consider Brazil not simply as a source of talent, but as a long-term location for technology operations.

An international startup can therefore establish AI-enabled development pods in Brazil, leverage global cloud infrastructure today, and increasingly benefit from a domestic ecosystem investing in AI infrastructure for the future.

Brazil’s LGPD provides a strong bridge to global privacy standards

Another factor differentiates Brazil from many traditional software outsourcing destinations: the maturity of its data protection environment.

Brazil’s General Data Protection Law, or LGPD, established a comprehensive privacy framework aligned with many of the concepts found in leading global data protection regulations.

Although the LGPD and the European GDPR remain distinct laws, there is significant conceptual convergence between the two regimes. For global companies operating across jurisdictions, this can simplify the creation of common governance standards and support regulatory bridging between Brazilian and international operations.

EU–Brazil adequacy reduces regulatory friction

On January 26, 2026, the European Commission formally adopted an adequacy decision for Brazil. Brazil and the European Union also established reciprocal recognition of their respective levels of personal data protection.

Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority — ANPD — explains that the recognition enables more direct and simplified personal data flows between Brazil and the European Union, while the European Commission now formally includes Brazil among jurisdictions covered by an adequacy decision.

For European startups and international companies using GDPR requirements as a global privacy baseline, this can be an important factor when comparing Brazil with other software development destinations.

A Brazilian development pod can support global systems from within a jurisdiction whose data protection framework has been formally recognized by the European Commission as adequate.

For startups evaluating bodyshop, software outsourcing, staff augmentation or global engineering teams, privacy and regulatory compatibility can therefore become part of Brazil’s competitive advantage rather than an additional obstacle.

Brazil can be both a development center and a gateway to Latin America market expansion

There is another strategic advantage for companies looking beyond engineering capacity alone.

Brazil can operate simultaneously as a software development center and a regional platform for Latin America.

OpenAI itself intends to use its Brazilian structure to support broader operations across the region.

International startups can follow a similar strategy.

A team initially established to complement engineering organizations in the United States or Europe can later support product localization, regional integrations, technical support, customer success and commercial expansion into other Latin American markets.

This approach allows companies to enter LATAM incrementally rather than building separate structures in multiple countries from day one.

Brazil therefore becomes more than a hiring destination. It can become the operational foundation for a broader LATAM expansion strategy.

Dedicated development pods versus traditional outsourcing

There is an important difference between outsourcing a defined project and establishing a dedicated engineering pod.

Traditional outsourcing may involve transferring a closed scope of work to a supplier.

With a dedicated pod, the external professionals operate much more like an extension of the startup’s own organization.

Developers, QA engineers, DevOps, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, architects and other professionals can participate continuously in backlog management, ceremonies, technical decisions and product releases.

Macher Tecnologia works with professionals allocation, IT bodyshop, Teams-as-a-Service and multidisciplinary development teams, allowing startups to increase or reduce their engineering capacity as product requirements evolve.

This gives international startups a faster way to establish technical capacity in Brazil without immediately having to build a complete local recruiting, HR and administrative organization. Macher Tecnologia takes care of the burdens while your Startup can focus on growth and businesses decisions.

EOR and PEO can simplify expansion into Brazil

When a startup wants to directly manage its Brazilian professionals, Employer of Record — EOR and Professional Employer Services — PEO can provide an alternative or complementary model to outsourcing.

The foreign company can maintain functional leadership, priorities and day-to-day management while a local structure handles employment, payroll, benefits, statutory obligations, onboarding and administration, without requiring the startup to immediately maintain its own Brazilian legal entity.

This makes it possible to move gradually from a small group of professionals to a more substantial Brazilian operation.

For startups testing the LATAM market, the model reduces initial complexity. For companies already scaling, it can serve as an intermediate step before establishing a local subsidiary.

Nearshore Brazil enables real-time collaboration

For North American startups, Brazil offers another important advantage over many traditional offshore destinations: significant time-zone overlap.

Brazilian technology teams can collaborate during much of the US working day, enabling real-time meetings, pair programming, incident response and continuous interaction between product and engineering.

For European and Middle Eastern companies, Brazil provides meaningful overlap at the beginning of the Brazilian workday. Once EMEA teams finish their day, Brazilian professionals still have several productive hours remaining.

This creates opportunities for follow-the-sun strategies, where development, QA, support and operations continue progressing across regions.

Macher Tecnologia’s software development and IT team outsourcing structure allows global organizations to allocate anything from one specialist to complete teams supporting international initiatives.

The next global development center may look very different

AI is also likely to change the very definition of an offshore development center.

The competitive advantage of the future may not come from simply assembling the largest possible engineering workforce at the lowest possible cost.

It may come from creating smaller, more senior, highly integrated and AI-enabled development pods capable of delivering more value per professional.

Cost remains important. But productivity, quality, communication, technical knowledge, security, regulatory maturity and the ability to use AI effectively are becoming increasingly important as well.

When one of the world’s leading AI companies identifies Brazil as its second-largest developer ecosystem and chooses the country as a Latin American hub, while projects such as Rio AI City expand computing infrastructure and the European Union formally recognizes Brazil’s data protection framework as adequate, a broader strategic picture emerges.

Brazil increasingly combines talent, AI adoption, infrastructure, market scale, regulatory maturity, geographic proximity and access to Latin America.

Brazil does not have to be only a market where global software is sold. It can be one of the places where that software is designed, built, tested, operated and scaled across Latin America and beyond.

How Macher Tecnologia supports global teams in Brazil

Macher Tecnologia helps international startups and global companies establish and expand technology operations in Brazil through IT bodyshop, software outsourcing, staff augmentation, dedicated development teams, Teams-as-a-Service and EOR/PEO structures.

Companies can begin with a single developer or establish a complete pod involving software development, QA, DevOps, support, architecture and technical management. But our role does not end when professionals are recruited or allocated.

We also support the cultural onboarding, integration and continuous nurturing of professionals, helping team members adapt to each client’s culture, processes, tools, expectations and working dynamics. This is particularly important for global teams, where differences in communication style, business context and organizational culture can directly affect productivity and retention.

Macher Tecnologia works closely with both the professionals and the client’s technical and management teams, maintaining frequent feedback and follow-up cycles. This enables us to identify integration difficulties, communication gaps, development needs or expectation misalignment early and address them before they become larger operational issues.

This model helps reduce turnover and attrition, improves knowledge continuity and increases professionals’ sense of belonging to the broader organization. At the same time, it reduces the amount of effort required from engineering managers, tech leads and peers during onboarding, integration and ongoing team management.

By combining technical talent, local employment infrastructure and an active nurturing and integration model, Macher Tecnologia helps international startups build more stable, productive and genuinely integrated LATAM engineering teams while allowing their internal leaders to remain focused on product, technology and growth.

Request a call with our experts and learn more about the possibilities!