Technology outsourcing firm iTexico has initiated talks with Mexico’s National Chamber of the Electronics, Telecommunications, and Information Technology Industry (Canieti), to install a software development center in Cancun.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, iTexico’s expansion of operations in Mexico and South America is a result of the tightening of US immigration policies.

Guillermo Ortega, co-founder of the company, said in an interview with Mexican news daily El Economista, that in the last six years they have invested US$18 million in Guadalajara, but the company is also starting operations in Aguascalientes this year.

He said that Mexico represents a great opportunity to offer digital solutions, support, and the development of specialized software, especially now that the recruitment of highly qualified personnel in the United States has been restricted.

Simultaneously, the demand for nearshore services is growing, something that Mexico has wide advantage over technological powers such as India or China.

“Cancun has all the conditions to position itself as a technology developer center, given its international positioning as a tourist brand, but above all by air connectivity with more than 30 major US cities,” explained Ortega.

According to statistics from the US government, the country will demand 1.4 million software engineers over the next five years, of whom only 400,000 can be covered by universities and the US education system.

The remaining work will have to be exported or subcontracted to companies that offer tailor-made solutions, said Marco Erosa Cárdenas, head of the Canieti in Cancún.

Faced with this opportunity, the Office of Technological Development, authorized by the government of Quintana Roo to support information technology projects, will provide all necessary support to enable iTexico and other technology companies to set up in Cancun, trying to link these companies with educational institutions that can contribute to human talent.

The first step for iTexico in Cancún will be installed in the technological center of the city, where there are already other companies that develop software for the United States and Canada. The company seeks to establish itself with the first objective of attracting human talent, allowing them to initiate specific projects to be developed from Cancun.