Spain has cleared one of the necessary steps to compete for one of the major artificial intelligence infrastructures that the European Union aims to deploy in the coming years. The European Commission has authorized the creation of a joint entity participated by ACS, Telefónica, Banco Santander, and the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), considering that the operation does not pose competition issues.
The authorization, processed through the simplified merger control procedure, does not yet mean that Spain has secured a gigafactory. What it allows is to advance in the organizational structure of the consortium that will present the Spanish bid for the European call, where different projects will compete to host up to seven of these large infrastructures.
The Spanish bid has considerable dimensions. The government estimates that the project could mobilize around €5 billion and has authorized SETT to invest up to €719.85 million in the entity that will promote the infrastructure. This is in addition to a Spanish contribution of €300 million to EuroHPC, the European body responsible for promoting these new computing capabilities.
A gigafactory between Tarragona and Madrid
The Spanish project also has a particular characteristic: it is not conceived as a single installation. The bid is multi-site and proposes to develop the infrastructure between Móra la Nova in Tarragona and San Fernando de Henares in Madrid.
The initiative brings together public, financial, telecommunications, and infrastructure construction capabilities. The documentation published by the European Union explicitly identifies the operation as ACS AIID / Telefónica / Banco Santander / SETT / JV, while the project has incorporated other technological players during its development.
Public participation will be particularly relevant. The Council of Ministers authorized in June a maximum investment of €719.85 million through SETT, the public entity affiliated with the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service. The goal is for the state to become part of the shareholdings of the entity competing for the European infrastructure.
The Generalitat of Catalonia also approved in June the participation of Incasòl in the entity. In the structure proposed at that time, SETT held 47.99% of the capital; Telefónica, ACS, and Santander each held 15.67%; Multiverse Computing had 4%; and Incasòl had 1%. The central government indicated, however, that the final composition of the consortium was still being finalized.
What is a gigafactory for artificial intelligence?
The name may lead one to think of a traditional factory, but the product that comes out of these facilities is not physical. A gigafactory of AI is essentially a computing infrastructure of enormous capacity specifically designed to develop and execute advanced artificial intelligence systems.
These centers need to house hundreds of thousands of graphic processing units—the well-known GPUs—and other specialized accelerators. Their capacity allows for training large language models, computer vision systems, and other applications that require extraordinary amounts of computation.
The difference from a conventional data center lies precisely in that specialization. While traditional centers may be dedicated to storage, cloud services, and business processing, gigafactories are designed to provide the enormous power needed to train and operate the most advanced generations of artificial intelligence.
And that is where the true strategic value of the project lies.
Europe wants to reduce its technological dependence
Currently, a large part of the infrastructures capable of training the most advanced AI models are tied to major American companies, while China is developing its own technological ecosystem.
Europe is trying to reduce that dependence by building its own capacity.
The European Commission launched a call at the end of July to develop up to seven gigafactories for artificial intelligence. Interest has been very high: Brussels received 77 expressions of interest, leading to an expansion of the initial target, which contemplated five installations. The call will remain open until November 12, and a decision is expected to be announced in early 2027.
The program is part of a broader strategy aimed at reinforcing European technological sovereignty. Having these infrastructures would allow companies, universities, research centers, and administrations to access advanced computing capacity without fully relying on providers located outside Europe.
For Spain, securing one of them would also mean having an infrastructure capable of attracting specialized artificial intelligence companies, technology providers, researchers, and industrial projects.
An investment that goes far beyond a data center
The Spanish project would mobilize approximately €5 billion, a scale that helps to understand why its development needs to combine public and private investment. The government believes these infrastructures can become poles of supercomputing capable of boosting both research and business activity.
The potential usefulness would range from startups needing capacity to train models to large industrial companies, universities, and scientific centers. It could also facilitate the development of proprietary models in areas where data have special sensitivity or strategic importance.
The energy infrastructure simultaneously represents one of the major challenges. Massive concentrations of GPUs require very high amounts of electricity and cooling systems, meaning energy availability, efficiency, and sustainability will be fundamental elements in determining the viability and competitiveness of the projects.
Spain intends to utilize its energy capabilities as one of the arguments for the bid.
Spain already has two AI factories
The gigafactory would not be starting from a completely new ecosystem. Spain already has two European AI Factories, linked to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the Center for Supercomputing of Galicia (CESGA).
However, the scale of a gigafactory would be significantly larger. The European strategy aims to make a leap from the current supercomputing infrastructures to facilities capable of competing in training the most demanding models.
The race also has an industrial dimension. Artificial intelligence depends on a chain that begins with semiconductors and continues with data centers, energy, telecommunications networks, software, and models. Having only AI applications without controlling part of that infrastructure would keep Europe in a dependent position relative to the United States and China.
Spain will have to compete
The approval from Brussels now clears a corporate obstacle but does not resolve the competition. Spain will have to present its bid and convince European institutions that its proposal offers the necessary technological, financial, and energy conditions.
The call will remain open until November, and the Commission expects to select projects by early 2027. Construction of the first gigafactories could begin thereafter.
Thus, the step taken now must be interpreted accurately. Brussels has not granted Spain a gigafactory for artificial intelligence; it has authorized the business alliance trying to obtain one.
The difference is significant, but so is the scale of what is at stake. ACS, Telefónica, Santander, and the state are preparing infrastructure that could mobilize around €5 billion and position Spain within a select group of
