{
  "id": "brazil",
  "reviewed": "2026-10-22",
  "attribution": "Geography: Natural Earth (public domain). Mineral and trade data: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries and the sources linked in each item. Regions and flows are approximate.",
  "facts": {
    "firstChip": "1971, University of São Paulo",
    "fab": "CEITEC, 0.6 µm (dissolution authorized 2020)",
    "projects": "BlueMacaw (RV32IC), NoX (UFRGS)",
    "membership": "RISC-V International, Premier Member (2024)"
  },
  "capabilities": {
    "design": true,
    "manufacturing": false,
    "minerals": true,
    "legal": true,
    "funding": false
  },
  "points": [
    {
      "id": "usp",
      "label": "University of São Paulo",
      "kind": "university",
      "lat": -23.558,
      "lon": -46.731,
      "desc": "The University of São Paulo produced the first chip in Latin America in 1971.",
      "source": "Jornal USP",
      "url": "https://jornal.usp.br/atualidades/criacao-do-primeiro-chip-de-computador-pela-usp-completa-50-anos/"
    },
    {
      "id": "unicamp",
      "label": "Unicamp, Campinas",
      "kind": "university",
      "lat": -22.819,
      "lon": -47.072,
      "desc": "Unicamp is one of Brazil's leading engineering universities, at the center of the Campinas technology hub.",
      "source": "unicamp.br",
      "url": "https://www.unicamp.br"
    },
    {
      "id": "eldorado",
      "label": "Instituto Eldorado, Campinas",
      "kind": "design",
      "lat": -22.885,
      "lon": -47.048,
      "desc": "Instituto Eldorado developed BlueMacaw, a Brazilian RV32IC RISC-V microcontroller manufactured by TSMC at 22 nm, and leads the national artificial intelligence accelerator project launched in 2026.",
      "source": "BlueMacaw specs",
      "url": "https://sites.google.com/inf.ufsm.br/bluemacaw/hardware-specs"
    },
    {
      "id": "ufmg",
      "label": "UFMG, Belo Horizonte",
      "kind": "university",
      "lat": -19.871,
      "lon": -43.969,
      "desc": "The Compilers Laboratory of UFMG wrote the BlueMacaw software development kit.",
      "source": "DCC UFMG",
      "url": "https://dcc.ufmg.br/lancado-site-do-bluemacaw-microcontrolador-brasileiro-construido-com-a-participacao-de-pesquisadores-da-ufmg/"
    },
    {
      "id": "ufrgs",
      "label": "UFRGS, Porto Alegre",
      "kind": "university",
      "lat": -30.033,
      "lon": -51.229,
      "desc": "UFRGS designed NoX, a 32-bit RISC-V processor core.",
      "source": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.17878"
    },
    {
      "id": "ceitec",
      "label": "CEITEC, Porto Alegre",
      "kind": "fab",
      "lat": -30.053,
      "lon": -51.191,
      "desc": "CEITEC was a state-owned fab running a 0.6 µm line; its dissolution was authorized by decree in December 2020.",
      "source": "Decreto 10.578",
      "url": "https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2019-2022/2020/Decreto/D10578.htm"
    },
    {
      "id": "unitec",
      "label": "SIX Semicondutores site, Ribeirão das Neves",
      "kind": "fab",
      "lat": -19.766,
      "lon": -44.052,
      "desc": "SIX Semicondutores, later renamed Unitec, was the largest private attempt at a national fab, conceived in 2005.",
      "source": "InfoMoney",
      "url": "https://www.infomoney.com.br/?p=1947369"
    },
    {
      "id": "brasiliasemin",
      "label": "Brasília, Brasil SemIn (Law 14.968)",
      "kind": "org",
      "lat": -15.795,
      "lon": -47.882,
      "desc": "Law 14.968 (September 2024) created Brasil SemIn and extended tax incentives through 2029.",
      "source": "Senado Federal",
      "url": "https://legis.senado.leg.br/norma/39600111"
    }
  ],
  "zones": [
    {
      "id": "quartz-mg",
      "color": "cyan",
      "label": "Quartz region, Minas Gerais",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "Minas Gerais is Brazil's main quartz producing state. The Diamantina and Gouveia districts hold the country's largest deposits.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/silicon-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -44.6,
          -19.4
        ],
        [
          -43.1,
          -19.7
        ],
        [
          -42.2,
          -18.5
        ],
        [
          -43.1,
          -17.6
        ],
        [
          -44.7,
          -18.2
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "quartz-goias",
      "color": "cyan",
      "label": "Quartz region, Goiás",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "Goiás is one of Brazil's principal quartz producing states, with deposits concentrated around Cristalina.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/silicon-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -48.7,
          -17.5
        ],
        [
          -47.2,
          -17.7
        ],
        [
          -46.8,
          -16.2
        ],
        [
          -47.9,
          -15.8
        ],
        [
          -48.9,
          -16.6
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "quartz-bahia",
      "color": "cyan",
      "label": "Quartz region, Bahia",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "Bahia is a principal quartz producing state, with deposits in the mineralized north of the state.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/silicon-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -41.7,
          -11.5
        ],
        [
          -40.1,
          -11.7
        ],
        [
          -39.5,
          -10.1
        ],
        [
          -40.5,
          -9.2
        ],
        [
          -41.8,
          -10.2
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "niobium-araxa",
      "color": "purple",
      "label": "Niobium, Araxá (Minas Gerais)",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "The Araxá complex in Minas Gerais holds the world's largest niobium reserves; Brazil supplies about 90% of the metal, used in superconducting magnets and electronic components.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/niobium-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -47.5,
          -20.1
        ],
        [
          -46.3,
          -20.2
        ],
        [
          -46.1,
          -19.1
        ],
        [
          -47.2,
          -19
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "lithium-tantalum-mg",
      "color": "gold",
      "label": "Lithium and tantalum, Jequitinhonha Valley (Minas Gerais)",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "The Araçuaí pegmatite province in the Jequitinhonha Valley, known as Brazil's Lithium Valley, holds spodumene and lepidolite lithium deposits alongside tantalite, the ore used in the capacitors of nearly every electronic device.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/lithium-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -42.9,
          -19.2
        ],
        [
          -41.5,
          -19.3
        ],
        [
          -41,
          -17.8
        ],
        [
          -41.9,
          -16.2
        ],
        [
          -43.1,
          -16.7
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "tin-ree-pitinga",
      "color": "emerald",
      "label": "Tin and rare earths, Pitinga district (Amazonas)",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "The Pitinga mine is Brazil's largest tin producer; tin is the metal used in the solder on every circuit board. The deposit also hosts one of the world's largest heavy rare earth resources.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/tin-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -61,
          -0.6
        ],
        [
          -59.8,
          -0.7
        ],
        [
          -59.6,
          0.3
        ],
        [
          -60.9,
          0.4
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "copper-carajas",
      "color": "copper",
      "label": "Copper, Carajás mineral province (Pará)",
      "kind": "resource",
      "desc": "The Carajás mineral province is one of the world's largest copper provinces; its Salobo and Sossego mines produce copper that ends up in the wiring and interconnects of electronics.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/copper-statistics-and-information",
      "coords": [
        [
          -51,
          -6.9
        ],
        [
          -49.6,
          -7
        ],
        [
          -49.2,
          -5.6
        ],
        [
          -50.4,
          -5.4
        ],
        [
          -51.2,
          -6
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "flows": [
    {
      "id": "flow-bluemacaw",
      "label": "BlueMacaw: designed in Campinas, fabricated in Taiwan",
      "kind": "flow",
      "from": [
        -47.048,
        -22.885
      ],
      "to": [
        121.01,
        24.8
      ],
      "toLabel": "TSMC, Hsinchu",
      "desc": "BlueMacaw is Brazil's intellectual export: the microcontroller architecture is created in Campinas, then sent halfway around the world to be printed into silicon by TSMC on its 22 nm process.",
      "source": "BlueMacaw specs",
      "url": "https://sites.google.com/inf.ufsm.br/bluemacaw/hardware-specs"
    },
    {
      "id": "flow-niobium",
      "label": "Niobium exports from Araxá to the United States",
      "kind": "flow",
      "from": [
        -46.94,
        -19.59
      ],
      "to": [
        -80,
        40.44
      ],
      "toLabel": "United States",
      "desc": "Brazil mines about 90% of the world's niobium. The United States imports all of the niobium it consumes, and about two thirds of those imports come from Brazil; the metal feeds foreign steel, defense and electronics industries, and little of the value stays in the Brazilian economy.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/niobium-statistics-and-information"
    },
    {
      "id": "flow-tin",
      "label": "Tin and rare earths leaving Brazil unrefined",
      "kind": "flow",
      "from": [
        -60.3,
        -0.2
      ],
      "to": [
        100.33,
        5.41
      ],
      "toLabel": "Refining abroad",
      "desc": "Pitinga's tin and rare-earth-bearing ore leaves the country largely unrefined; Brazil later buys the same materials back as finished solder, permanent magnets and electronic components.",
      "source": "USGS",
      "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/tin-statistics-and-information"
    }
  ]
}