Galicia is designing the first large data center in northwestern Spain

Four hundred million euros. That’s how much it will cost to set up the first big one data center peninsular northwest. If everything goes according to plan, it will be in the Galician Community.

The company announced this Wednesday. drive Galiciain which it is Board of Directors, Abanca, ragging and Sogama. Its technical committee chose a Spanish company Ingenostrum —with 14 years of experience behind him— to analyze the feasibility of the project and set up its infrastructure together with the engineering company nexitic.

Its implementation “would mark a turning point in the digitization of the business and institutional fabric of the autonomous community”, they said after the presentation. According to the Xunta President himself, Alfonso Rueda, its strength would be enough to provide a service to all Galician companies that need it: “Pay the fine”he emphasized.

The center, whose exact location has not yet been revealed, will have 15 megawatts (MW) at the service of small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies and public institutions that need to host data, have fast connectivity, sufficient bandwidth and lower network delays. to ensure large scale activities and achieve cost efficiency. “This would give Galicia sovereignty over the control of community data,” they recalled in a statement. Rueda emphasized that the center will position Galicia as one of the leading communities in Spain in terms of data storage and management, one of “new industrial and technological trends” with greater growth potential.

And that is that on the entire western side of the peninsula only Sines (Portugal) is developing a project of similar scale. “Galicia has an ideal location”explained the company director Ingenostrum, santiago rodriguez. This is because submarine cables, coming from America, cross the Atlantic until they reach a junction in the sea. Some are going to the United Kingdom and others to Bilbao: “Ideally one of those ropes has a place to moor here,” Rodríguez slipped. Of course, its construction will require money.

resources and employment

Of the 400 million expected to be invested, 130 will go to construction, and 270 to hardware and computer equipment. This is a very large volume of funds, which is why Rueda pointed out the need for analysis “financing possibilities” of the project, for which he once again asked the central government to “accelerate” and “efficient management, not like now” help The EU of the next generation. This suggests that the Xunta will require part of the investment to be covered by money from the recovery fund.

The director of Impulsa Galicia, Enyd López, recalled that the data center is one of the projects included in the Poles for the Transformation of Galicia. This is key: «We are very pleased to be able to articulate everything that comes forward as a country project. It will serve the entire Galician society, making us leaders in digitization”, he celebrated.

What will this mean in terms of employment for the community? The public-private partnership estimates that the project has the potential to create some 200 jobs during construction and afterwards about 100 highly qualified direct and indirect employees related to its maintenance.