SOUTH AMERICA WIRE AND CABLE MARKET SIZE & SHARE ANALYSIS - GROWTH TRENDS AND FORECAST (2025 - 2030)

South America Wire And Cable Market Trends and Insights

Surging Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Projects

Utility developers continue to commission large solar and wind assets across South America, and almost every new megawatt requires matching high-voltage export capacity. ENGIE secured a 30-year concession to build 1,000 km of lines across five Brazilian states, generating USD 252 million in regulated annual revenue ^{[1]ENGIE, “ENGIE Secures New Bid in Brazil,” engie.com}. Curtailment reached 2.4 TWh in Chile during 2023, prompting the energy ministry to fast-track grid reinforcements and tariff reallocations ^{[2]Argus Media, “Chile Battles On With Energy Transition,” argusmedia.com}. The parallel requirement for optical ground wire (OPGW) makes every new line a dual-purpose asset that also boosts rural telecom reach.

Rising Fiber-to-the-Home Roll-Outs

Carriers are deploying fiber at an unprecedented pace. Claro Brasil earmarked USD 7.7 billion for 5G and fiber upgrades between 2024 and 2029, while América Móvil is executing a comparable plan across its regional footprint. Neutral-host specialist V.tal is coupling a USD 1 billion data-center roll-out with last-mile fiber, ensuring wholesale bandwidth for smaller ISPs. Peru’s Amazon basin saw Global Fiber Peru connect 400 isolated communities in 2025, replacing costly satellite links. A skills shortage is the only near-term brake; the World Economic Forum estimates digital-workforce training must scale 250% to meet operator schedules.

Government-Backed Transmission and Distribution Upgrades

National regulators keep auctioning large grid packages that guarantee long-term returns for cable suppliers. Brazil’s program alone has lifted ENGIE’s local footprint to nearly 8,000 km of lines. Cross-border schemes, such as the Ecuador-Peru 500 kV intertie, seek to stabilize power flows and reduce fossil back-up. Colombia’s USD 19.4 billion Turbo-Cupica railway also contains sizeable electrical works, although rainforest terrain may delay execution. Policy now obliges two independent tele-protection channels per line, lifting fiber count per circuit and raising cable value per kilometer.

4G/5G Backhaul Densification in Secondary Cities

Mobile operators are extending advanced coverage outside primary metros. TIM Brasil’s 2025 expansion contract with Nokia typifies the new wave of investment, spurred by fiscal incentives that reward 2G/3G sunset and spectrum refarming. Studies of the 2024 flooding in Rio Grande do Sul showed legacy 2G/3G sites outperformed 4G/5G in extreme weather, encouraging operators to engineer redundant paths that ultimately raise fiber-kilometer demand. Rural deployments often blend FTTH spurs with cell-site backhaul, maximizing trenching efficiencies and driving multi-service cable orders.

Volatile Copper and Aluminum Prices

Cable makers faced sharp swings in conductor costs during 2025 as mining disruptions and smelter outages tightened supply. LME copper ranged from USD 7,900 to USD 9,800 per ton, eroding contract margins and complicating project finance. Aluminum tracked a different path because energy-price spikes constrained smelter output, creating material-substitution dilemmas for design engineers. Suppliers are now offering higher-fill-factor conductors and leaner alloy blends to limit metal intensity without sacrificing ampacity.

Currency-Driven Import Cost Inflation

The Brazilian real lost 9.5% against the USD in calendar 2025, while Argentina’s peso devalued almost 50%, lifting dollar-priced inputs across the board. Import exposure is acute for specialty insulators, semiconductor tapes, and certain high-voltage accessories that regional plants do not yet produce. Developers are negotiating escalation clauses and turning to local content, but retooling takes time and capital. Exchange-rate risk also raises the cost of servicing hard-currency debt, pressuring project balance sheets even when demand fundamentals stay strong.

Segment Analysis

By Cable Type: Fiber Optics Drives Digital Infrastructure

Low-voltage energy products represented 39.32% of 2024 revenue in the South America wire and cable market, while fiber optic cables are projected to grow at a 7.61% CAGR through 2030. The premium capacity of modern fiber supports both FTTH and data-center interconnect needs across densely populated corridors. Neutral-host network build-outs and submarine-branch landings propel the South America wire and cable market. Prysmian’s ECO CABLE program, covering roughly 30% of its telecom portfolio, appeals to operators with greenhouse-gas targets, helping the brand retain specification preference on new tenders. Meta’s 24-pair Project Waterworth underscores the growing importance of very-high-fiber-count designs that demand advanced manufacturing and testing regimes.

Power, signal, and legacy coaxial cables continue to capture renovation and industrial orders, yet bandwidth hunger keeps shifting capital budgets toward glass. Construction standards now mandate empty conduits for future fiber drops in new buildings across Brazil and Chile, further locking in long-term demand. As an aging copper plant gets decommissioned, recovery and recycling programs return conductor metal to the supply chain, partially offsetting raw-material volatility.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Voltage Rating: Ultra-High Voltage Gains Momentum

Low-voltage lines ≤1 kV captured 44.91% of 2024 revenue, reflecting expansive housing programs and small commercial builds. Extra and ultra-high-voltage (>220 kV) is the fastest-growing class at 7.61% CAGR because long-distance renewable corridors require fewer but larger lines, each laden with premium insulation and monitoring accessories. The South America wire and cable market share for extra-high-voltage reached 9.4% in 2024 and is expected to top 12% by 2030. ENGIE’s 1,000 km Brazilian concession demonstrates the financial viability of such projects, with USD 252 million in regulated annual income funding heavy conductor sections and OPGW pairs.

Medium-voltage (1-35 kV) remains the backbone of urban distribution and mining operations, while high-voltage (35-220 kV) feeders link load centers to generation hubs. Regional regulators now stipulate temperature-resistant, low-sag conductors for high-ampacity spans in desert and tropical zones, driving upgrades even where nominal voltage stays unchanged. Suppliers delivering turnkey kits, cable, joints, fiber, and hardware enjoy higher margins and secure framework agreements that extend beyond a single voltage class.

By End-User Vertical: Power Infrastructure Accelerates

Construction contributed 47.56% of 2024 turnover, but power utilities are the fastest-growing customers with an 8.85% CAGR to 2030, underpinned by battery storage, green hydrogen clusters, and cross-border interconnectors. The South America wire and cable market size tied to power infrastructure will expand by almost USD 1.9 billion over the outlook period. Chile’s planned 2 GW storage tender and Uruguay’s coastal hydrogen pipelines illustrate the rising mix of direct-current links and higher-ampacity alternating-current feeders that boost specialized cable demand.

Telecommunications remains a strong second pillar as 5G densification overlaps with FTTH corridors. Wholesale carriers prefer 288-fiber and 432-fiber cables for rural duct-sharing schemes, reducing per-home pass cost and allowing future capacity leases. Industrial automation, rail electrification, and defense projects round out the order book, providing diversity that shields manufacturers from cyclicality in any single vertical.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

Brazil generated just under half of all 2024 revenue and is pacing the regional league table with a 7.19% CAGR through 2030. Claro’s USD 7.7 billion multiyear plan, plus Meta’s Project Waterworth, make the country a top destination for telecom-grade fiber ^{[3]Globo, “Meta Vai Instalar 50 Mil Km de Cabos Submarinos,” g1.globo.com}. Persistent grid bottlenecks continue to boost extra-high-voltage demand, and regulators now bundle fiber capacity into every new concession. Currency weakness inflates input costs yet also encourages on-shore manufacture of conductors and accessories, improving domestic value capture.

Argentina offers high-margin niches in lithium-ion gigafactory supply chains and Patagonian wind export lines. Rio Tinto’s USD 2.5 billion lithium outlay increases medium-voltage and control-cable demand, while cross-border conversions with Chile require hybrid aluminum-copper designs adapted to Andean altitude. Peso volatility complicates imports, but reverse-sourcing agreements with Brazilian foundries provide a partial hedge.

Chile positions itself as an energy-transition laboratory with legislation that reallocates tariffs to fast-track grid reinforcement. Google’s 14,800 km trans-Pacific cable will land near Valparaiso and spark terrestrial backhaul projects worth tens of millions of dollars. The move aligns with extensive green hydrogen corridors that run from the Atacama desert to export terminals, each demanding high-temperature, chemically resistant cabling.

Colombia and Peru advance telecommunications roll-outs and rural electrification. The CSN-1 cable activated partial service in 2025, reducing latency for Andean cloud workloads and catalyzing terrestrial fiber spurs. Rest-of-region markets, including Paraguay and Uruguay, adopt similar models, securing multilateral loans that require open-access wholesale frameworks, thereby expanding addressable fiber demand.