The minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, has reiterated that Spain's bid to host one of Europe's major artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactories on its territory "is ready," and all that remains is for the European Commission to officially launch the call.
In the press conference following the Council of Ministers, López recalled that the Executive approved an investment of 719 million euros last week through the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), with the aim of participating in a public-private consortium to promote an advanced AI gigafactory with which Spain will compete for this community call.
"What I can tell you is that the Spanish bid is ready and I am absolutely convinced that we will be one of the first gigafactories," stressed the minister, who avoided specifying how many facilities of this type Brussels will ultimately finance. "I don't know if there will be three or four in the end, that will depend on the Commission," he pointed out, awaiting the European Commission to publish the guidelines and determine which will be the continent's first gigafactories.
300 million as a voluntary contribution to the European project
In this context, López detailed that the Government has approved a voluntary contribution of 300 million euros to the European Commission's "EuroHPC" project, of which 250 million will be allocated to artificial intelligence initiatives and 50 million will be reserved for the development of quantum technologies. This funding is part of the strategy for the future gigafactory, which will have a dual location in Móra la Nova (Catalonia) and San Fernando de Henares (Madrid).
The minister explained that "EuroHPC" arises from the need for Europe "to reduce its external dependence so that Europe has supercomputing capabilities" and "not depend on third parties." In this context, he recalled that the European Commission "launched an idea which was the construction of gigafactories in Europe."
According to López, "these gigafactories are much more than a data center," given that they are conceived as "major investment hubs" to which "a lot of research, a lot of companies" must be linked and in which "a very clear multiplier effect of wealth in relation to artificial intelligence" is generated.
The head of Digital Transformation has stressed that the European Commission "is going to launch a call to decide which are the first European gigafactories," in which different national proposals will compete. "What we are talking about today is the Spanish candidacy to host one of the first gigafactories in all of Europe," he indicated, "therefore, to be leaders in supercomputing."
Regarding the financial effort, he recalled that the Council of Ministers approved "an investment of 720 million euros" to "capitalize a company together with other leading Spanish private companies in the sector," which will assume the mission of "building and managing this new gigafactory." In addition, he specified that the contribution of 300 million euros to the European Commission will make it possible for the latter, "with that common fund," to place orders and "will buy supercomputing from these gigafactories," thus ensuring initial demand for the selected facilities.
López emphasized the scope of the initiative, highlighting that it will allow "not only scientists, not only public administration, but also small and medium-sized enterprises" to use these advanced capabilities, which he considers "something truly transformative for the country" and a decisive step to "democratize access to artificial intelligence."
Composition of the new public-private company
Regarding the corporate design of the project, he pointed out that Banco Santander, ACS, and Telefónica will be the three reference private partners, with a combined weight of 47% of the capital and an individual participation of 15.67% each. With the incorporation of Multiverse Computing, which will have 4%, the private block will reach 51% of the shareholding and will assume effective control of the company.
On the public side, the Government will maintain 47.99% through "SEPI Digital," while the Generalitat de Catalunya will initially have 1%, thus completing the structure of the new company that will promote the AI gigafactory in Spain.