MexMoves

This week on MexMoves, we interview Alejandro Preinfalk, President and CEO of Siemens Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
Siemens has been in Mexico for 130 years, but recently business has been booming globally as electrification, automation, industrial AI and data centers reshape global manufacturing, driving its market value to a all-time high of $240bn. We ask how big Siemens is in Mexico today, where it is investing, whether nearshoring is still delivering, how quickly Mexican companies are adopting AI and robotics, and whether the country has enough electricity, infrastructure and talent for the next industrial wave.
We also discuss whether automation weakens Mexico’s traditional labor-cost advantage, how Mexico fits into Siemens’ global manufacturing and technology strategy, and what changes to USMCA and tighter restrictions on Chinese technology could mean for the country.
Before the interview, Eduardo and Damian break down the week’s biggest Mexico business stories:
* Flex spins off its fast-growing AI infrastructure business as Axiom Solutions International, with Mexico already accounting for roughly 35% of quarterly sales and 58% of productive assets.
* Traxión Founder, Chairman and CEO Aby Lijtszain launches a MX$13.18-per-share offer to buy up to 100% of the company, highlighting the striking disconnect its depressed valuation on the BMV.
* Liverpool brings Primark to Mexico, raising the question: can one of the world’s most successful store-first fashion retailers help Liverpool defend itself against Shein, Temu and the broader e-commerce shift?
* Grupo México closes the deal to combine its power assets with Saavi Energía to create a 4.5 GW electricity platform, as opportunities in electricity require scale, capital and it would seem local muscle

We interview Oscar del Cueto, Head of CPKC Mexico and President of AmCham Mexico, for a conversation about railways and the future of North American trade.
Oscar discusses how nearshoring is showing up in freight volumes, why Mexico still moves so much cargo by truck, the US$100 million expansion at Nuevo Laredo, border bureaucracy, security, tariffs and whether passenger rail can coexist with a growing freight network. We also ask what U.S. companies are telling AmCham ahead of the USMCA review.
First Eduardo and Damian we break down the week’s biggest Mexico business stories:
* Mexico’s 2027 budget: slower and arguably more realistic fiscal consolidation, but debt continues climbing toward 55% of GDP and potentially higher. Can Mexico protect investment grade while funding pensions, Pemex and infrastructure?
* The digital-payments surprise:  new powers for authorities could accelerate digital payments, free QR payments, and digital account opening, potentially reshaping Mexico’s payments industry and (optimists hope) moving the economy away from cash and informality
* Kapital raises US$125 million: unlike other fintechs, the neo Mexican bank has acquired legacy businesses, applied technology to improve efficiency and sustain high levels of profitability. 
* Televisa and the end of an era: after roughly 30 years, Televisa is set to leave Mexico’s flagship IPC index. We look at how one of Mexico’s most powerful companies went from dominant and hugely cash generating Mexico media gatekeeper to a smaller and less profitable Mexico telecom-focused group plus 45% effective controlling ownership of the TelevisaUnivision, still relevant but now highly leveraged US-Mexico Hispanic media group.
* Mexico Investment Week in New York: investors still like Mexico, but the constraint is turning energy, infrastructure, water, logistics and nearshoring opportunities into actual bankable projects.

We interview María Ariza, CEO of Mexican stock exchange BIVA and founder of Mexico Investment Day, now Mexico Investment Week, in New York, to discuss next week’s event and the current state of Mexican capital markets.

We also talk with Ariel Fischman, CEO and founder of 414 Capital, about the state of Mexico’s mergers and acquisitions market.

First, Eduardo and Damian discuss the following business and economic stories:

* Axtel, the Mexican telecom company that has been on the market for six years, has suddenly received two competing acquisition bids.
* Afore Coppel is, according to press reports, preparing to acquire its smaller rival, Afore InverCap, from global investment firm Advent International after 14 years of ownership.
* Mexico’s Foreign Investment Law could be reformed under a new proposal that would introduce a national security screening mechanism into the review process.
* Felix Pago, the remittance fintech, receives a sizable capital injection as it seeks to expand its services.
* Volkswagen cuts a shift at its iconic Puebla plant as the company faces U.S. tariffs and growing competition from Chinese automakers.
* Finally, cuts to credit card fees are becoming a reality in Mexico. What could the impact be?

We interview Sofía Ramírez Aguilar, head of México, ¿Cómo Vamos?, a leading Mexican think tank, on one of Mexico’s biggest economic challenges: labour-market informality, and what to do about it.

About 55% of employed Mexicans work informally, meaning they lack social-security or legal protections. Beyond that, informal workers earn less than half what formal workers make.

Sofía explains why informality has proved so persistent, and how it is connected to Mexico’s low productivity, education, gender inequalities and company size. The productivity divide is huge: microbusinesses employ 41% of Mexico’s workers but generate only 16% of economic value added, while large companies employ 29% and produce 54%. The issue is therefore not simply how to formalise workers, but how doing so can help Mexico create more productive firms and better jobs.

First, Eduardo and Damian discuss the week’s big economic stories:

* Delta-Aeroméxico wins in court: why the Delta JV is central to Aeroméxico’s network economics.
* US-Canada trade talks collapse: could Canada’s confrontation with Washington actually make a Mexico-US bilateral deal more likely?
* The Mexican economy: Banxico upgrades its 2026 growth forecast to 1.5%, helped by booming non-auto exports and electronics.
* Mexico’s AI hardware boom: Pegatron, Foxconn, Inventec, Wiwynn and Flex are helping turn Mexico into a massive supplier of servers and data-centre equipment to the US.
* Enterprise AI comes to Mexico: Primero’s US$12 million seed round and Wonderful’s Mexican expansion show how implementing and developing platforms for AI inside large, complicated Mexican companies is becoming a hot business.

Is Mexico’s economy finally turning a corner, or simply stabilizing at a disappointingly low growth rate?
This week on MexMoves, we interview Gabriel Lozano, Chief Mexico Economist at J.P. Morgan, to discuss the economic outlook for the rest of 2026: why investment is lacking, the weakness of auto and strength of non-auto exports, Mexico’s growing role in US data-center roll-out, the impact of Plan México, why the Peso is so strong, and what to expect from USMCA negotiations.
First Eduardo and Damian look at the week’s biggest business stories: the World Cup tourism boom that wasn’t, Carlos Slim’s hit from Braskem Idesa’s Chapter 11 agreed restructuring, Mexico’s growing tariff wall against China, Omnilife’s Texas manufacturing bet, rising credit-card default rates, and FEMSA and QED’s new head of Spin Credit.