Building momentum in Madrid

Building momentum in Madrid

According to Structure Research, the Madrid data center market is expected to expand from 126 MW this year to 763 MW in 2029, growth of over 600%. This makes Madrid one of the fastest-growing data center markets in the world, and puts it in pole position to overtake FLAP hubs like Paris and Amsterdam by the end of the decade. Faced with such phenomenal demand, we are accelerating the phased roll-out of one of the country’s biggest data center campuses. What is driving that growth and how are data center operators responding?

Powering ahead

One of the biggest attractions is that Madrid utility rates are both low and stable. This is a huge plus, especially now with AI power demands growing so fast. Power alone makes Madrid a natural spillover point to the south of the traditional FLAPD Tier 1 markets. But the market is also ripe in terms of both infrastructure and economic potential. Right in the middle of the populous and economically dynamic Iberian peninsula, accounting for 20% of Spain’s GDP, it is drawing capacity towards it at a phenomenal rate. With new cables landing and interconnecting here, combined with advanced 5G roll-out and the highest fiber penetration in Europe (87%), Madrid is expected to soon be Southern Europe’s premier data hub, with easy access to major cities across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Gathering clouds

This is reflected in the current level of investment. In the last few years there has been exceptional cloud investment to the north, east and south of the city. There are now Microsoft and Google Cloud Regions, an IBM Multi-Zone Cloud Region, a new Meta campus in Toledo to the south and a Meta Lab in the city. AWS has announced a multi-billion local investment plan, and Oracle has opened a Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) region.

MAD-1 campus acceleration

If they are lucky enough to have scalable sites and power agreements, operators are perfectly placed to capitalize on this growth. We have already increased the pace of the phased build-out of our Madrid campus, one of Spain’s most scalable sites. The campus sits on top of the Barcelona-Madrid fiber backbone, the highest-capacity fiber highway in the country, and caters for both retail and hyperscale customers. Our new retail hall, with an additional 2 MW of capacity, will be ready for service at the end of the year. We are also accelerating the rest of the 76 MW build-out by bringing capacity upfront as far as we can. The next two buildings on the campus, which are more hyperscale-focused are now scheduled to be ready for service by 2026, and the target delivery date for the rest of the campus, originally 2029, has been brought forward to 2027.

Southern sites

Madrid is not growing in isolation; we are seeing a wholesale shift of demand towards the Mediterranean. Lisbon and Barcelona are also growing at strategic coastal points where subsea cable traffic aggregates, as is Marseille. Milan is growing as fast as Madrid, but is not in direct competition. Their markets are huge and discrete - people want their data closer and that is what clouds and enterprises - and of course governments - are keen to deliver.

100 Megawatt minimum

As well as building out around our core established Tier 1 hubs to meet both retail and hyperscale needs, we are now looking for bigger campuses to respond to the evolving demands of our customers. Not long ago 100 MW was a huge development, now it is the minimum, so we are looking at even larger deployments. Southern Europe is one of the most exciting areas in the EMEA region now, and we plan to be a key mover in the development of its next generation infrastructure.