Nebius Enters Spanish Market with 18MW Data Center Lease from Merlin Properties
July 3, 2026
Nebius Enters Spanish Market with 18MW Data Center Lease from Merlin Properties
Nebius, the neocloud provider known for its AI-focused infrastructure, has taken its first step into the Spanish data center market by signing an 18MW capacity agreement with Merlin Properties, according to a report from El Mundo. The deal marks Nebius’s expansion into a fifth European country, further strengthening its footprint across the continent amid surging demand for cloud and AI compute capacity.
The facility in question is Merlin’s Getafe data center near Madrid, which is part of a campus jointly developed with Edged Energy. According to Edged’s website, the campus comprises two buildings: MG1, offering 20MW of capacity, and MG2, with 48MW. The data centers operate with a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.15, reflecting a strong focus on energy efficiency. Merlin declined to confirm the exact scale of the lease agreement with Nebius to El Mundo, and DCD has reached out to both Nebius and Edged for additional comment.
With the addition of the Spain location, Nebius now operates in five European countries. The company has recently signed capacity agreements with Kao Data and Ark DC in the UK, leases capacity with Equinix in Paris, France, and maintains an existing data center in Mäntsälä, Finland. Nebius is also planning further developments in France and Finland, in addition to its operations in Iceland. This expansion reflects the broader trend of cloud and AI providers racing to secure power and space in key European markets.
Merlin and Edged have been partners on data center projects since 2021, developing facilities across Spain and Portugal. Their portfolio includes sites in Bilbao Arasur (two facilities), Madrid-Getafe, Barcelona, and Lisbon, which could total approximately 60MW at the end of the first phase and eventually exceed 200MW. The partnership had previously targeted Andalusia, but in February 2026, those plans were abandoned due to a lack of guaranteed power supply. In January 2025, Merlin revealed it was exploring two gigawatt-scale campuses in Spain, located in Navalmoral de la Mata in Cáceres Province and Valdecaballeros in Badajoz Province, signaling its long-term ambition in the region.
Edged also operates data centers across the United States, including in Missouri, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and Illinois. The Nebius lease in Spain underscores the growing interconnection between European and global data center markets, as hyperscale and neocloud providers alike seek to meet the infrastructure demands of the AI era.
Source: datacenterdynamics
