Spain approves €719m AI gigafactory consortium with Telefónica, ACS, Santander and Multiverse
The Spanish government has authorized a €719 million investment through its SEPI Digital holding to launch a public-private company that will compete for one of the European Union’s planned artificial intelligence gigafactories, with data centers in Tarragona and Madrid.
A public-private consortium takes shape
The Spanish Council of Ministers on Tuesday authorized a €719 million investment through the state holding SETT (the so-called SEPI Digital) to form a joint venture that will bid for a European AI gigafactory. The Catalan government simultaneously approved the company’s statutes and partner agreement, clearing Incasòl to take a 1 percent stake and provide the plot in Móra la Nova (Tarragona). The capital structure leaves the private block with 51 percent control: Telefónica, ACS and Banco Santander each hold 15.67 percent, while San Sebastián quantum-software startup Multiverse Computing takes 4 percent. The state retains 47.99 percent. The pact is designed as a flexible scheme that can adapt to future phases and welcome new partners.
- SETT (SEPI Digital)
- 47.99 %
- Telefónica
- 15.67 %
- ACS
- 15.67 %
- Banco Santander
- 15.67 %
- Multiverse Computing
- 4 %
- Generalitat de Catalunya (Incasòl)
- 1 %
Two sites, one candidacy
The Spanish project will compete for European funding as a multi-site candidate, pairing the Tarragona location with San Fernando de Henares (Madrid). The complex is conceived as a large-scale supercomputing infrastructure with several data centers and hundreds of thousands of advanced chips, able to train and run industrial-grade AI models. The government framed it as a sovereignty move.
The European Commission has earmarked €20 billion for three to five such gigafactories across the continent, although the formal call has been delayed indefinitely; an initial reception of applications that was expected by the end of 2025 has not yet been executed.Es una apuesta por la soberanía tecnológica e industrial.
Europe’s race, Spain’s bet
The €719 million commitment is substantial by Spanish standards but remains modest when set against global spending. Venture-capital-backed data-center investment in the United States reached $45.7 billion in 2025, and Big Tech’s AI-related capex is projected to hit $673 billion in 2026. China is readying a $295 billion five-year plan for data centers. Madrid insists the gigafactory will anchor talent and build on existing assets such as the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer and the EuroHPC AI Factories programme, but the announcement leaves critical details open: the final consortium composition, the timeline for construction, and the rules on whether the infrastructure will serve public bodies and large firms only or also smaller enterprises and end users.
What’s missing
The initial list of partners omitted Nvidia and Submer, two names that had been floated in earlier discussions. Officials noted that the shareholder arrangement can be adjusted as the project moves through subsequent stages. The next concrete step is a formal submission to the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, but the indefinite postponement of the EU’s selection process means the Spanish consortium may wait months before knowing whether the bid will become a physical gigafactory.
