AI Is Changing Brazilian M&A in Two Ways: Software Targets and AI Infrastructure

Artificial intelligence is beginning to influence Brazilian M&A in a way that is more concrete than the market’s early rhetoric suggested.¹² Rather than producing a flood of standalone “AI deals,” the theme is entering the market through two channels that are strategically easier to understand: software targets using AI to improve operational relevance, and infrastructure assets needed to support the increase in compute, storage and digital capacity that more advanced applications will require.

The software side is already visible in the shape of Brazil’s technology M&A market. Chambers’ late-2025 review described a recovery led by strategic and corporate buyers, particularly in enterprise software, ERP, fintech and other recurring-revenue, tech-enabled services, often with an AI component.¹ It also noted that buyers were prioritizing scalable platforms, recurring revenue and businesses with stronger governance, transparent financials and operational maturity. That is significant because it suggests AI is not being valued as a standalone label so much as a feature that improves the quality and defensibility of businesses already solving mission-critical problems.

This distinction matters. In the Brazilian market today, simply attaching an AI narrative to a product is unlikely to command a premium on its own.¹ What matters more is whether AI actually changes the product’s economics or strategic position. Does it improve workflow automation, decision support, underwriting, customer interaction or data-intensive functionality in a way that makes the platform harder to replace? When the answer is yes, AI becomes relevant not because it is fashionable, but because it deepens the logic that was already making the software attractive to buyers.

The second channel is infrastructure, and this is where the Brazilian story becomes especially interesting. In December 2025, reporting showed that BNDES was working on a fund focused on artificial intelligence and data centers, expected in early 2026.² That initiative is important because it places AI within a capital-formation and infrastructure framework rather than treating it only as an application-layer theme. Once AI is understood as something that increases demand for data centers, power, storage and digital capacity, the investment universe broadens substantially.

Brazil’s broader 2026 M&A outlook supports that reading. BVA’s March analysis described Brazil as entering 2026 with a level of transactional maturity shaped in part by growing demand for digital and energy infrastructure, long-term industrial policies and the country’s structural strengths as a large and increasingly digital economy.³ In that context, AI does not need to create an entirely new infrastructure market to matter. It simply has to intensify the demand logic already supporting digital-infrastructure investment. That is enough to make the theme relevant to M&A.

This dual-track dynamic changes how buyers should think about technology opportunities in Brazil. On one side are software targets whose use of AI can strengthen customer stickiness, margin potential or workflow relevance.¹ On the other are infrastructure plays, directly or indirectly tied to data centers and digital capacity, that may benefit from the growth of AI-related workloads. Those are different transaction types and may attract different capital pools, but they increasingly belong to the same strategic conversation.

For founders and sellers, the practical implication is that precision matters. A software company will need to show exactly where AI sits in the product and what it changes in terms of user outcomes, defensibility or scalability.¹ A company exposed to infrastructure or data-center demand will need to explain why its assets or capabilities sit in the path of rising compute and digital-infrastructure needs. In both cases, buyers are far more likely to reward credible relevance than broad thematic enthusiasm.

The larger point is that AI is already changing Brazilian M&A, but through integration rather than hype.¹² The market is not yet defined by blockbuster AI transactions, and that is not necessary for the theme to matter. What is already happening is arguably more important: AI is sharpening software buyer preferences and increasing the strategic importance of infrastructure categories that support the next phase of digital growth. In that sense, AI is becoming an organizing principle for capital allocation in Brazil well before it becomes an M&A category of its own.