Madrid is experiencing unprecedented growth in its data center capacity, positioning itself as one of the most promising markets in Europe in this sector. According to the recent report EMEA Data Centre Report Q1 2024, prepared by the international real estate consultancy JLL, the Spanish capital is about to make a quantitative leap in its technological infrastructure.
Exponential Growth
The city already has a capacity of 110 MW in data centers, but the most surprising thing is the projection for the current year. It is expected that during 2024, Madrid will increase its offering by an additional 58 MW, which will represent a 54% increase in its total capacity. This growth will catapult the Spanish capital to the sixth position among the largest markets in Europe in this area.
Key factors of Madrid’s success
Several factors contribute to Madrid’s attractiveness for the data center industry:
- Strategic geographic location
- High potential for intercontinental connectivity
- Solid network of infrastructures and telecommunications
- High capacity for renewable energy production
- Growing digitalization of the economy
- Rise of artificial intelligence
Jordi Sinfreu, JLL’s Data Centres Manager for Southern Europe, states: “It is expected that, in the coming years, Madrid will be one of the European markets with the highest growth driven by its high capacity to produce renewable energy, the growing digitalization, and the rise of artificial intelligence.”
David Carrero, co-founder of Stackscale (Aire Group), a European cloud infrastructure and bare-metalA bare-metal server is a physical server with a single … company, highlights: “Not only Madrid is a great hub for data centers, there are also other peninsular regions, such as Lisbon or Malaga, as well as islands, in the Canary Islands, which have a very attractive potential due to their locations for the arrival of technology companies and data centers.”
The tech giants’ commitment
The rapid growth of the sector in Madrid is largely due to the commitment of the main cloud computing providers to the Spanish capital. Among the most prominent projects is the launch of Microsoft’s new cloud region.
Microsoft: an unprecedented investment
The Redmond company has announced plans to quadruple its investments in artificial intelligence and infrastructure in Spain between 2024 and 2025. The total investment will amount to 2.1 billion dollars and will include the construction of a new data center campus in Villamayor de Gállego, Aragon.
European perspectives
The JLL report also sheds light on trends in the data center sector at the European level:
- A very active year is expected for the data center sector across the continent.
- Total occupancy in the main markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin) will increase by 15% compared to the record levels of 2023.
- Secondary and tertiary markets will experience significant growth in the coming years.
Cities in Southern Europe such as Milan, Barcelona, and Lisbon, as well as the Nordic metropolises of Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen, are shaping up as attractive destinations for data center developers, driven by regulations and energy restrictions in the central markets.
In this context of expansion and diversification, Madrid emerges as a key player in the European data center landscape, with a promising future ahead.