A number of US data center developers and operators are looking at developing and/or acquiring facilities in Spain.
Cinco Dias reports that Blackstone – through QTS – along with US fund Pimco, developers Compass and Prime DC, and Dubai property group DAMAC are evaluating opportunities to purchase land to build projects and/or centers already in operation, and have even begun to open files with energy companies.
However, only Pure appears to have made any public acknowledgment about potential projects in Spain.
Blackstone acquired QTS last year, and the companies are reportedly ‘looking for opportunities’ in Spain. While it operates a number of large facilities across the US, until now QTS’ European presence has been centered solely within the Netherlands; the company operates two Dutch facilities acquired in 2019 and recently bought more land there.
DAMAC, led by Dubai property magnate Hussain Sajwani recently launched Edgnex, a new Dubai-based hyperscale data center builder that is developing a 20MW data center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It has also invested in Ireland’s Dataplex.
Compass has facilities across the US and Canada, but is yet to officially move into Europe.
Prime, which focuses largely on powered shell and wholesale data centers, has a number of facilities in the US in California and Illinois. It lists data centers in Madrid, Spain, and Frankfurt, Germany, as ‘coming soon’ on its website, but hasn’t shared details.
Pimco is an American investment management firm not traditionally known for its activity in the data center space. However, some reports have linked it to StratCap (formerly Strategic Capital) and its Datasphere fund.
While not traditionally a major data center market compared to the likes of Paris or Frankfurt, Spain is quickly becoming a major potential hub.
A number of new and established companies are looking to develop largescale data centers within Spain, largely around Madrid and Barcelona. These include Stoneshield-backed XData, Merin, NTT, Thor Equities, Interxion/Digital Realty, Global Switch, CyusOne, Renta Corporación, Equinix, and EdgeConnex. Google, Oracle, AWS, Microsoft, and Meta all have or are developing facilities in the country.
