A large new data center could be coming to Andalusia, Spain.

Sierra DC has confirmed plans for the construction of a new AI-focused data center in the Industrial and Technological City and Innovation Area (CITAI) of Escúzar, Granada.

The investment, for what the company says will be one of the largest facilities of its kind in Spain, is estimated at €1 billion ($1.17bn).

Francisco Garcia, spokesman for Sierra DC, said: “We are the developers, making the analogy, we would be the ones who build the building and then rent it; our tenants will be huge companies. We build all the infrastructure, the building, we guarantee access to energy power, certifications, and then we sell the capacity to end customers, Google Cloud or Amazon type…. Large companies that will install their servers or companies that have a huge demand for infrastructure of this type to train artificial intelligence.”

In addition, Garcia emphasized that it will not be an infrastructure to “host digital data,” but the purpose is to “train AI models such as ChatGPT.”

“As of today, there is no operational center on this scale, Sierra DC Escúzar wants to be the first,” he said.

Grenadian company Cuerva is one of the main candidates to provide energy for the complex.

In the last four years, more than 300 permits for construction in Andalusia have been requested, but there is a lack of capacity in the electrical networks, with nodes in cities such as Malaga, Almeria, Jaen, Huelva, Cadiz, Seville, or Cordoba, at above 90 percent of their capacity. Granada has just over 30 percent of its capacity available.

CITAI, located in Escúzar in Granada, has more than 35 active companies, including Amazon and Lidl, and almost 2,000 professionals working there.