The debate about digital sovereignty often stays in headlines — regulations, technological dependence, data control — but the Government of Spain wanted to ground it in a very concrete initiative: own infrastructure. The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, visited the Data Processing Center (DPC) of the State Agency for Digital Administration (SADA), located within the National Police complex in El Escorial (Madrid), which the government describes as critical infrastructure and a key element of the digital ecosystem of the General State Administration (GSA).
The visit comes at a time when cloud sovereignty is shifting from being a compliance “extra” to a strategic priority. Not only due to regulatory pressures but also because of geopolitical context and market concentration around major hyperscalers. In fact, Gartner estimates global spend on sovereign cloud (IaaS) will reach $80 billion in 2026, and the so-called “geopatriation” could shift about 20% of workloads from global providers to local ones.
A Data Processing Center with a political message and operational reading
In the official statement, the Ministry presents the DPC in El Escorial as proof of the State’s ability to operate “safe, efficient, and sustainable” critical infrastructure, supporting services that “impact millions of citizens and thousands of public administrations every day.” There’s an evident political component, but also a practical interpretation: when the Administration talks about sovereignty, it’s not just about contracts or clauses, but about direct control of part of the digital “brain” that keeps the public machinery running.
The central argument repeats: public ownership to guarantee control over sensitive data, compliance with jurisdiction, and security standards. The image is not meant to be merely institutional; it aims to show that digital sovereignty is also built with square meters of IT rooms, with everyday operation, and a clear chain of responsibilities.
NubeSARA: the State’s private cloud and cross-cutting service
The DPC in El Escorial is directly connected with NubeSARA, defined by the Government as the sovereign, private cloud of the GSA. SADA operates transversal services from this environment and hosts critical applications of the Administration and its agencies. Capabilities mentioned include compute, storage, databases as a service, and other value-added cloud services.
The official note provides figures that, without technical details, illustrate scale: more than 12,000 virtual machines, over 50 user entities, and nationwide presence through Red SARA, as well as transversal services for the entire GSA. For readers with a technical background, this point is crucial: it’s not a “backoffice” DPC but a set of platforms supporting a significant part of the State’s digital operation.
Ready for AI: ALIA, 060, and GPU in a sovereign environment
The most ambitious element of the announcement is its connection to the Future Sovereign AI Platform. According to the Ministry, the DPC in El Escorial and NubeSARA are prepared for high-density workloads and to deploy trained models “like ALIA,” as well as generative AI services for citizens (060) and public agencies, intelligent automation of files, and computing capacity with GPUs within a sovereign and secure framework.
Beyond the “AI” label, the subtext is clear: if the Administration wants to scale models — citizen service, processing, anomaly detection, fraud — it needs prepared infrastructure and governance. And if it wants that AI to be “sovereign,” control over data and execution environments must be under rules that the State can audit and sustain.
Inter-agency collaboration and a DPC within a police complex
The statement highlights another element: collaboration between SADA and the Directorate General of Police as an example of inter-agency cooperation that enables an “efficient, robust, and coordinated” use of critical infrastructure, maintaining ownership and control within the State. Regarding physical security and access control, being located within a National Police complex also sets it apart from traditional government data centers.
Energy efficiency: over 1,150 m² of IT space and reduced cooling
The Ministry adds a detail often omitted in general notes: the center spans more than 1,150 square meters of IT space, and it is presented as a case oriented toward sustainability and energy efficiency, citing a “drastic reduction” in cooling consumption and related emissions. Specific metrics are not published, but the emphasis aligns with sector trends: digital sovereignty is also being built around energy, cooling capacity, and the real scalability of public services.
Sovereignty: between “public infrastructure” and “sovereign provider”
Óscar López’s visit to El Escorial occurred shortly after a meeting with Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia to discuss cloud and AI expansion and explore collaboration with the Spanish public sector, as part of the Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud initiative.
This opens a debate increasingly present in the sector: what exactly does “sovereign” mean? For some, sovereignty doesn’t just mean operating “in Europe” or meeting data residency requirements but also includes ownership, corporate control, effective jurisdiction, and local decision-making capacity. In this view, the concept aligns better with public infrastructures — like NubeSARA — and with national providers operating under governance and control within the country.
Spain, in fact, has a fabric of companies capable of operating cloud infrastructure and services locally, from large telecom groups to specialized infrastructure and hosting providers. This nuance is important because it influences concrete decisions: where keys are stored, who manages identities, how access is audited, what sub-processors are involved, and what real options exist to avoid structural dependencies.
A movement that cannot be understood without the global context
The scenario described by Gartner — accelerated growth in sovereign cloud spending and a partial shift of workloads to local providers driven by geopatriation — helps explain why the Administration seeks to strengthen its narrative through tangible infrastructures.
In this vein, the DPC in El Escorial functions both as a symbol and as a tool: a symbol of public control and a tool to sustain transversal services, host critical workloads, and prepare for AI. However, its success will depend on less visible factors than a ministerial visit: governance, daily operations, security, availability, technological evolution, and a clear — shared — understanding of what “sovereign” means in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is NubeSARA and what is its role in the Administration?
NubeSARA is the State’s private cloud managed by SADA, hosting critical applications and offering cloud services (compute, storage, databases as a service) to GSA agencies and user entities.
What role does the DPC in El Escorial play in the State’s digital ecosystem?
According to the Government, it is a critical infrastructure that acts as the core of the GSA’s digital ecosystem, providing transversal services used by millions of citizens and thousands of agencies.
What does it mean that the DPC is prepared for a “Sovereign AI Platform”?
The official note states it is scaled for high-density loads and to deploy trained models (like ALIA), generative AI services (060), automated case processing, and intensive GPU computing within a sovereign and secure environment.
Does “sovereign cloud” always mean “local provider”?
Not necessarily. The sector debates this: for some, data residency and controls suffice; for others, sovereignty also entails corporate control and effective jurisdiction, favoring public infrastructures and fully national providers.