Nabiax has laid the first stone of Alcalá Data Center 3 (ADC3), a new data center the company will build on the Campus Externo in Alcalá de Henares with an investment of close to €800 million. The project will reach up to 100 MW of IT power and will be developed in phases through 2029 to meet demand from hyperscale cloud and artificial intelligence clients.
ADC3 in 30 seconds
- Nabiax will invest close to €800 million in ADC3, which will reach up to 100 MW of IT power.
- Construction, awarded to Ferrovial, will proceed in phases through 2029.
- The project will let Nabiax reach 135 MW of installed capacity in Spain.
- Redeia will build a substation of more than 100 MW to power the campus.
- The facility will run on 100% renewable energy, use closed-circuit cooling, and hold BREEAM Excellent certification.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 18 in Alcalá de Henares, with the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; the city’s mayor, Judith Piquet; the regional minister for Digitalization, Miguel López Valverde; and Nabiax representatives led by CEO Pablo Ruiz-Escribano all in attendance. Representatives from the University of Alcalá and the local business and tech community also took part.
ADC3 will expand the data center campus Nabiax already operates in Alcalá. The company currently runs three facilities in Spain — two in the Community of Madrid and one in Catalonia — with a combined capacity of 35 MW of IT power. With the new development, the Alcalá campus will surpass 100 MW, and Nabiax expects to reach 135 MW of installed capacity across its Spanish sites overall.
A campus built for cloud and AI clients
The new data center will be built in phases. That approach reflects the need to align capacity bring-up with the pace of demand from hyperscale clients tied to cloud and artificial intelligence services.
Power will be one of the project’s central elements. Redeia will build a new substation of more than 100 MW to supply the power needed both for construction and for the campus’s subsequent operation.
Construction has been awarded to Ferrovial and is expected to proceed in phases through 2029. The announced investment of close to €800 million places ADC3 among the largest digital infrastructure projects currently under development in the Community of Madrid, according to figures provided by Nabiax and the Alcalá de Henares city council.
The project also includes specific measures tied to energy and water consumption. Nabiax says ADC3 will run entirely on renewable energy and that the building will hold BREEAM Excellent certification, an international standard used to assess sustainability in buildings.
One of the technical features highlighted by the company is its closed-circuit cooling system. According to Nabiax, this design will avoid continuous consumption of mains water during the center’s operation. The company states that, over the facility’s entire operating life, water consumption will be equivalent to that of a four-person household over one year.
That detail matters at a facility where cooling is part of the operational demands placed on IT equipment. The company ties ADC3’s design to its resource-efficiency goals, though the information provided so far does not detail additional power consumption or efficiency parameters for the site.
Nabiax calls for regulatory stability for the sector
During the event, Pablo Ruiz-Escribano framed the project within a broader push to build digital infrastructure in Spain. Nabiax’s CEO said ADC3 represents the largest investment project in the company’s history and linked the facility to skilled job creation and opportunities for young professionals in the area — continuing a build-out the company first outlined last month as part of an 800 million euro expansion plan.
Ruiz-Escribano also used his remarks to address the ongoing debate around the draft Royal Decree affecting the data center sector. His position was that new requirements should come paired with a stable framework and legal certainty.
The executive argued that projects that have already reached advanced stages — with financing approved, permits obtained, and construction underway — should receive different treatment than developments still in early phases. He also called for collaboration between government and industry to reconcile sustainability goals with planned investments.
The regulatory question affects a sector that requires large amounts of electricity and is expanding on the back of, among other factors, the growth of cloud services and AI workloads. In ADC3’s case, the project’s own scale makes access to electrical power a central part of its development.
For Alcalá de Henares, the new building expands a tech presence already established on the Campus Externo — a site whose existing Nabiax data center earned Uptime Institute’s Tier IV Gold certification last year. Mayor Judith Piquet said during the event that the new infrastructure reinforces the city’s position within the technology and advanced communications sector.
The facility also adds to the growing data center capacity in the Community of Madrid. ADC3 still has several construction phases ahead before reaching its planned 100 MW, so the announced capacity represents the project’s final target rather than power available from the start of operations.
The combination of an investment close to €800 million, a dedicated power connection of more than 100 MW, and phased construction through 2029 reflects the scale of a facility designed for large computing workloads. Its progress will depend on execution across the different phases and on the capacity demand from the clients Nabiax aims to serve.
FAQ
What is ADC3?
ADC3 stands for Alcalá Data Center 3, the new data center Nabiax will build on the Campus Externo in Alcalá de Henares.
How much will Nabiax invest in ADC3?
The planned investment is close to €800 million.
How much power will the new data center have?
ADC3 will reach up to 100 MW of IT power and will be built in phases through 2029.
What sustainability measures does ADC3 include?
Nabiax says the facility will run on 100% renewable energy, hold BREEAM Excellent certification, and use a closed-circuit cooling system that will not require continuous mains water consumption.
