Argentina submits \"Super RIGI\" bill to Congress — US$1bn minimum-investment incentive for new strategic industries (Mensaje 181/2026)
Industrial policy↑ Liberalising~🇦🇷 AR · Poder Ejecutivo Nacional / Ministerio de Economía✎ 2026-08-17
announced 23 May 2026
effective 26 May 2026
Status
effective 26 May 2026 · stage not filed
Sourcing
🟢 primary-OJ 1 primary
🇦🇷 AR issued this industrial policy measure, touching semiconductors, ai-infrastructure, advanced-biotech and 11 more sectors. It reads as liberalising and has been amended since announcement — current severity (3) reflects the latest revision. settling — 1 amendment, median lag d.
RBI 4📍 settling
On 23 May 2026 President Javier Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni announced the "Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones en Nuevas Industrias" (Super RIGI), and on 26 May 2026 submitted the bill (Mensaje 181/2026, expediente 0005-PE-2026) to the Cámara de Diputados — pending Congressional approval as of filing. The regime applies a US$1 billion minimum investment threshold (with ≥20% committed in the first two years), a 15% corporate income tax rate (vs 25% under the base 2024 RIGI), accelerated depreciation of 60%/20%/20% over three years, immediate export-duty exemption (vs year 3 under RIGI), import-tariff exemption, and 30-year regulatory stability across tax, customs, social security, and FX matters. A progressive FX-liberalisation schedule allows 20% / 40% / 100% free disposal of export-generated foreign currency in years 1 / 2 / 3+. Target sectors are industries that "do not currently exist or are in experimental/pilot phase in Argentina," including semiconductors, AI data centres, advanced biotech, 100% electric vehicles, lithium value chain (downstream processing, cathode, battery), green hydrogen, solar panels, wind turbines, onshore LNG, SMR nuclear, aerospace, uranium value chain, potassium and phosphorus fertilisers, and new petrochemicals.
Analyst notesShowHide
Mechanism
The Super RIGI is a second-tier investment-incentive statute layered on top of the original 2024 RIGI (Law 27.742, Title VII — filed at 2024-07-08-argentina-rigi-large-investment-incentive-regime). Where the base RIGI targets large investments ≥US$200 million in mining, energy, oil-and-gas, infrastructure, steel, forestry, and tourism, the Super RIGI imposes a higher US$1 billion floor but offers materially deeper incentives targeted at industries that do not currently exist in Argentina or are at experimental scale.
Structural differences from base RIGI:
| Parameter | Base RIGI (Ley 27.742) | Super RIGI (Mensaje 181/2026) |
|---|
| Minimum investment | US$200 million | US$1 billion |
| Corporate income tax | 25% | 15% |
| Export duty exemption | Year 3 onward | Immediate (day 1) |
| Import tariff exemption | Capital goods | Project startup imports |
| Accelerated depreciation | 2-year minimum / useful life | 60% yr 1 + 20% yr 2 + 20% yr 3 |
| Employer social contributions | Standard | 10% reduced rate for new hires |
| Regulatory stability | 30 years | 30 years |
FX liberalisation schedule: Beneficiaries may freely dispose of export-generated foreign currency at 20% (year 1) / 40% (year 2) / 100% (year 3 onward), with the Cepo Cambiario fully lifted for the export-revenue component from year 3. This builds on DNU 269/2025's general FX liberalisation (filed at 2025-04-11-argentina-dnu-269-2025-cepo-cambiario-fx-liberalisation) but extends it to a sector-specific maximum-liberalisation track.
Investment vehicle requirement: Each Super RIGI project must be structured as a Special Purpose Vehicle (VPU — Vehículo de Propósito Único), a ring-fenced entity created exclusively for the adherent initiative. This prevents cross-contamination of incentive benefits and simplifies monitoring.
Provincial adhesion mechanism: For the regime to apply at the subnational level, provinces and municipalities must formally adhere to the Super RIGI framework, accepting a gross income (Ingresos Brutos) tax rate cap of 0.5% and municipal fees not linked to sales volume. This conditional-adhesion structure mirrors the base RIGI's provincial architecture.
Downstream implications
- Palantir / AI-infrastructure play: Multiple Argentine commentators flagged the Super RIGI's AI data-centre and semiconductor inclusion as a direct attempt to attract Palantir Technologies — which has been in advanced conversations with the Milei administration on large-scale AI-infrastructure deployment — and other hyperscale data-centre operators.
- Lithium battery–EV cluster: Pairing battery manufacturing with EV production within the same eligible sector list creates an incentive stack for integrated lithium-processing → cathode → battery → EV assembly value chains, potentially targeting Chinese OEMs (BYD, CATL-aligned partners) considering Argentina as a Mercosur-inside export platform.
- LNG + hydrogen arbitrage: The onshore LNG + green hydrogen combination positions the Super RIGI as a simultaneous long-plateau hydrocarbons and energy-transition play, targeting major LNG offtakers (Shell, TotalEnergies, YPF's existing Vaca Muerta partners) that could layer hydrogen export infrastructure on the same site.
- US$1 billion threshold is binding: Only a handful of planned investments in Argentina currently meet the threshold — Vaca Muerta LNG (YPF+Petronas), MARA's lithium-processing facility, and potential data-centre megacampus investments. The threshold deliberately filters out sub-scale projects.
- Parliamentary risk: Argentina's Congress has historically been hostile to Milei's economic programme; the base Ley Bases took six months to pass in modified form. The Super RIGI's sector list and FX liberalisation schedule are likely to be contested in committee.
Open questions
- Will Congress pass the Super RIGI bill in its original form, or will key sectors (semiconductors, AI, nuclear) be stripped in committee?
- Will the provincial adhesion requirement prove a coordination bottleneck (as it has for some base RIGI approvals)?
- Does the 30-year regulatory stability guarantee survive potential future political transitions given Argentina's history of unilateral incentive reversals?
- File an amendment action once the bill passes (or is modified) — the enacted text may differ materially from Mensaje 181/2026.