El Salvador has become the first nation to secure a sovereign quotation for NVIDIA’s Blackwell Ultra B300 processors, positioning itself for prioritized access to the world’s most advanced AI chips upon mass production commencement post-September 2025.
This agreement, negotiated through a tripartite partnership between Hydra Host, the National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC), and the National AI Agency, will fuel the country’s sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Strategic Framework & Partners
🔹 Legal Foundation:
- Governed by El Salvador’s Law for the Promotion of Artificial Intelligence (enacted February 2025), which mandates the creation of a sovereign AI ecosystem.
- Managed under the National AI Agency’s operational plan (published May 2025), emphasizing “computational self-sufficiency” for public services.
🔹 Partner Roles:
- Hydra Host: Technical procurement and deployment, led by CEO Aaron Ginn.
- ONBTC: Diplomatic coordination with NVIDIA and resource allocation oversight.
- National AI Agency: Infrastructure integration into the National AI Laboratory.
Infrastructure Deployment & Applications
🔹 National AI Laboratory:
- Centralized hub for all B300 processors, funded by the state budget (per Art. 7 of the AI Law).
- Physical infrastructure includes tier-4 data centers in San Salvador and Santa Ana, as cited in the Agency’s 2025 implementation roadmap.
🔹 Verified Use Cases:
- Public Health:
- AI-powered diagnostics for rural clinics (e.g., tuberculosis screening via medical imaging).
- Real-time outbreak modeling, aligned with the Ministry of Health’s 2025–2030 digital strategy.
- Education:
- Adaptive learning platforms for 750 public schools, targeting personalized curricula in STEM fields.
- Teacher training modules developed with Universidad de El Salvador (joint announcement, April 2025).
- Urban Resilience:
- Traffic optimization across San Salvador’s 12 municipal districts using IoT sensors.
- Flood/drought prediction models for Lempa River basin communities, per CEL’s climate adaptation plan.
Diplomatic & Technical Backbone
🔹 Negotiation Timeline:
- July 2024: Ambassador Milena Mayorga and CEL President Daniel Álvarez initiated talks with NVIDIA (per Foreign Ministry records).
- Q1 2025: ONBTC finalized technical requirements with Hydra Host (ONBTC bulletin, March 2025).
🔹 Capacity Building:
- CUBO_ai Program: Government-backed initiative to train 200 Salvadoran engineers by 2026.
- Aaron Ginn (Hydra Host): Leading NVIDIA CUDA architecture certification courses (CUBO_ai curriculum, June 2025).
Strategic Objectives
- Achieve computational sovereignty by reducing dependency on foreign cloud providers (stated goal in AI Law preamble).
- Establish Central America’s first AI R&D hub, focusing on tropical climate and economic mobility applications (National AI Agency mandate).
Key Constraints & Transparency:
- No financial terms disclosed (ONBTC confirms “budgetary confidentiality” per Salvadoran law).
- Delivery window: Post-September 2025, contingent on NVIDIA’s production schedule (ONBTC, June 26, 2025).
