Will high tech tango to Argentina for cheap engineers

Argentina--land of the tango, professional dog walkers, and a people that tend to be more attractive and fashion conscious than the rest of us.

But it could also become a hub for R&D and engineering.

Although the company's monetary crisis has subsided, salaries for engineers remain depressed, said Emiliano Kargleman, managing director of Aconcagua Ventures, a venture fund based in the country. (Kargleman also founded Core Security Technologies, which has received venture backing from Morgan Stanley's VC unit).

An engineer with six or seven years experience makes around $25,000 a year, he said. That's not as cheap as China, but it's a lot cheaper than a lot of Western nations. The country also has a pretty good history of math and science education, he added.

It's not going unnoticed among the large tech companies. Several have been expanding their development offices there. And the whisper on the streets of Buenos Aires is that a large search company--one of the ones with two Os in its name--is considering opening an office.