Barcelona has become the strategic location for Data Centers. These infrastructures store and process data on a large scale, making them key players in an increasingly digital economy.
Today, they are an essential part of companies whose dynamism was initially concentrated in markets such as Paris, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
However, its development had already begun in Madrid and now it is estimated that this activity will develop exponentially in Barcelona.
Strategic city for Data Centers, according to CBRE
For its part, the German fund Aquila Capital will develop one of the most ambitious projects in Cerdanyola del Vallès, as a sign of the city’s potential in this sector.
It is a Data Center with an investment of 300 million euros that will create around 300 jobs.
The facilities will have a total area of 7,000 square meters, more than enough space for the operation of offices and training and innovation centers.
In fact, the consulting firm CBRE estimates that the supply of data centers in the Catalan capital could grow by 500% in the next five years. This would make Barcelona one of the 10 European cities with the highest growth in this sector.
Another advantage of the City of Barcelona, according to CBRE, is that its strategic geographic location, as well as being a port for submarine cables and its positioning as a technological hub, favor it in this type of market.
In addition, the demand for these services is growing every day and few cities have taken the lead in this area.
And in the midst of it all, the world is becoming increasingly connected. With this, the goal is to develop “Data Centers” closer and closer to end users to guarantee them a better service.
The high energy requirements of these facilities also encourage the need for decentralization.
Investment in Parc de l’Alba
Of the most important investments in this sector, the most announced has been in Cerdanyola del Vallès, in Parc de l’Alba. The Alba synchrotron, one of the most important scientific infrastructures in the country, is located there.
The site became strategic because Sant Adrià de Besòs will be the site of a new submarine fiber optic cable station developed by the Catalan company AFR-IX.
This project is expected to be operational during the last quarter of 2024.
The Cerdanyola Data Center will be the second data center to be built by the company, which already has a similar one in Norway.
Its goal is to invest in ten more European cities, of which it will begin work in three of them next year.
Aquila Capital has been present in Catalonia since 2016.
