Strong push from Microsoft to its cloud business in Spain. The American technology company announced this Tuesday that it plans to build a data center campus in Aragon to provide cloud services to European companies and organizations.
This new infrastructure will be added to the investment that the company has already made for the implementation of the data center region in Madrid, which will be available in the coming months to offer all its intelligent cloud services (Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform) to private and public clients in Europe.
For now, the company has not revealed figures on the investment necessary to launch this new campus, although other projects of this magnitude have involved spending hundreds of millions of euros. According to an analysis by the consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC) cited by the company, this project could contribute 8.4 billion euros to the Spanish GDP and contribute to the creation of 69,000 indirect jobs in the period 2026-2030.
The multinational assures that this initiative will be a catalyst “for innovation, economic growth and job creation in Aragon and the rest of Spain”, and that it will help accelerate the digitalization of “public and private” organizations of all sizes and industries” and to promote the growth of the technology industry in Spain.
According to the regional press, the company will implement its data warehouses in the Recycling Technology Park (PTR) of Zaragoza, where it already agreed with the previous Executive of the socialist Javier Lambán to acquire 63.7 hectares, and would expand to La Muela and La Puebla de Alfindén (both in the province of Zaragoza) with two other data centers.
In this way, the multinational follows in the footsteps of its compatriot Amazon, which through its subsidiary AWS launched three centers of this type in the community almost a year ago in Huesca, Villanueva de Gállego and El Burgo de Ebro. Here, The initial investment amounts to 270 million and the forecast is to reach 2,500 when its equipment is completed in ten years.
Microsoft has more than 300 companies in Aragon within its ecosystem of technological partners. According to the multinational, this region has positioned itself as one of the most important in Europe for the implementation of data centers thanks to the high availability of “highly qualified” talent, public support for innovation projects, the existence of high quality, the available land and its location.
According to the aforementioned consulting firm, the new campus could add 264 million euros to the regional GDP and contribute to the creation of more than 2,100 specialized jobs.
The regional authorities, headed by the popular president Jorge Azcón, were pleased with the news advanced by the company, the first of great significance in terms of investments since the new Executive was formed after the PP-Vox pact.
For his part, the president of Microsoft Spain, Alberto Granados, has indicated that the company's new investments in Spain will allow them to provide intelligent cloud solutions and services to companies and public entities in Europe, promoting the digital transformation of companies and public entities, promoting innovation and contributing to the generation of new jobs in the technology sector in Aragon and the rest of Spain.
“We will work closely with national and regional governments and local authorities in the construction of the data center campus to ensure that people, businesses and society can fully reap the benefits of a digital world,” he assured.
