The multinational Amazon Web Service (AWS) has redoubled its commitment to making Spain one of its main bases to sustain the internet, the cloud and artificial intelligence by announcing this Wednesday an investment of 15.7 billion euros in Aragon over the next 10 years.
With this amount, the firm will build four new data centers in the region, which will occupy about 350 hectares and add to the three that it has already been operating for a year and a half. “Never before has such a powerful investment been announced in the history of the community,” certified the Aragonese president, Jorge Azcón.
According to Suzana Curic, general director of AWS in Spain and Portugal, the announcement is “great news” that will have an impact of 21.6 billion euros on the Spanish GDP and will make it possible to create some 17,500 full-time jobs worldwide. national.
For the head of the company, her commitment will serve to create “a solid and secure communication infrastructure” for the development and adoption of technologies such as cloud computing or artificial intelligence. Likewise, she highlighted that this project consolidates Spain as a key technological hub in southern Europe.
Regarding this announcement, the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, has highlighted the importance of this investment, which “ratifies Spain as a key digital hub in southern Europe with great advantages, such as connectivity and local climatic and energy conditions.” Furthermore, the fact that AWS data centers are 100% sustainable “is absolutely aligned with the ‘AI Strategy’ approved a few days ago by the Government,” he added.
AWS’s commitment to Aragón is not new. In 2020, it became the first large technology company to land in the region with the construction of three data centers in the towns of Huesca, Villanueva de Gállego and El Burgo de Ebro (these last two in the province of Zaragoza), with an investment of 2,500 million.
Now, the company’s plans involve multiplying that move by six with the construction of four more centers in the vicinity of the previous ones: 62 new hectares in Huesca, 85 in Villanueva, 54 in El Burgo and a new infrastructure of 147 hectares next to to the Empresarium industrial estate, near the previous one.
In the presentation at the Water Tower, one of the icons of the 2008 International Expo, Azcón stressed that the project will mean the creation of 6,800 new jobs in the community and an impact on the GDP of 12.9 billion, which represents an increase of 30%. The data is “overwhelming, spectacular and exciting,” he added.
Among the community’s strengths to host this network of centers, everyone highlighted the availability of land, access to renewable energy sources – “sun, water and wind” -, a solid and consolidated business fabric and social peace. Added to this is the administrative facilities offered by the community, which is working to declare this project of regional interest (PIGA) to advance its development.
Today’s announcement adds to other investments announced recently in the region, such as Microsoft’s data centers. In addition, last week Zaragoza hosted the first edition of The Wave technology congress, which it aspires to become a national benchmark, and announced the creation of a new technology park in the ICT sector in one of the capital’s peripheral neighborhoods.
