Microsoft is set to invest €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) in a massive data center project in northeastern Spain, regional authorities announced on Wednesday. This investment aims to establish Aragon as a cloud storage hotspot.
The announcement, which follows other plans unveiled by the US software giant, raises Microsoft’s planned investment in Aragon to nearly €6.7 billion, regional leader Jorge Azcon told reporters.This follows a similar announcement by Amazon, which in May stated its cloud computing division would invest €15.7 billion to expand its data centers in Aragon, where it currently operates three.
“This is great news for the Aragonese economy,” said Azcon, highlighting the expected economic benefits. He believes this investment will have “a knock-on effect” in attracting other companies.
Microsoft had in October announced its intention to build a data center campus in Aragon to provide “cloud services to European companies and public bodies” without specifying the investment amount.
Citing figures provided by the IDC consultancy, Microsoft said the project, with its 88-hectare (217-acre) campus, could “contribute to the creation of more than 2,100 technology jobs in Aragon between 2026 and 2030″.”Data centers will undoubtedly play a fundamental role as the first link in the chain… that will generate investment, innovation, and a wider range of digital services in our community,” Azcon said.
For months now, big tech has been increasing its investment in data centers, where servers are housed to store the vast amounts of information used by both companies and individuals.This growth aligns with the needs driven by the demand to develop generative artificial intelligence, which requires locations with robust electrical capacity due to the significant energy consumption of these data farms.
In that respect, Aragon is an ideal location, given its sparse population, ample sunshine, strong wind exposure, and connectivity to Spain’s communications networks.
Source https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-microsoft-invest-bn-euros-spain.html
