A Brief History of Computing in Mexico

Abstract

Although Mexico has a common border with the United States, on account of its enduring inequities in distribution of wealth and often rickety economy, Mexico's technological advances have been a step behind. Nevertheless, Mexico has had quite a few interesting high-end technology locations that helped stimulate the acquisition and spread of computing knowledge. This article briefly describes how Mexican computing has evolved-depending significantly on developments in the US and often hindered by the Mexican politics that have led to long periods of economic crisis. In the 1990s, an international treaty helped boost the Mexican computer industry, although this relatively recent event still left Mexico far behind its neighbor to the north. The treaty made it easy to import computers into Mexico and to produce them in Mexico, and the economy became more stable over the following decades. In time, computing developments in Mexico started catching up with the US, coinciding with cheaper consumer electronics products, a good economy, high productivity, and globalization.