Asturias Government Unveils €1.2bn Digital Valley Asturias Data Center Campus in Salas, Spain

The Principality of Asturias has announced plans for a major new data center development in northern Spain, marking one of the region's most significant digital infrastructure projects to date. The Digital Valley Asturias project, unveiled this week, will see a large-scale data center campus constructed in the municipality of Salas, with a total investment of €1.226 billion ($1.4 billion).

The project, presented at an event attended by Adrián Barbón, president of the Principality of Asturias, is designed to deliver a computing capacity of 120MW across ten data center modules. The campus will also include an electrical substation and a photovoltaic installation comprising 350 solar panels, underscoring the growing emphasis on integrating renewable energy into large-scale digital infrastructure. The entire complex will span 154,585 square meters (1.66 million sq ft), with 46,865 sqm (504,450 sq ft) dedicated to facility space.

Construction is scheduled to take place at the Nonaya Este industrial park between the second half of 2027 and 2030. During the construction phase, the project is expected to employ up to 3,000 workers, according to Armando Layna, co-director of Digital Valley and Sales For You Consulting (S4U), the consulting firm involved in the initiative. Once operational, the center will sustain a direct workforce of approximately 120 people, alongside nearly 960 indirect jobs tied to its operations, contributing to the local economy in a region seeking to diversify beyond traditional industries.

Layna, who brings extensive experience in digital infrastructure, described the announcement as "a very special day" and noted that the project—which he refers to as a "virtual campus"—has been in development for two years in collaboration with the Asturian government. He highlighted the role of data centers in the modern economy, describing them as "large refineries of the digital economy" and emphasizing their nature as "silent" infrastructure, whose presence is only noticed when an incident occurs. He also sought to address common misconceptions about such facilities, particularly regarding water consumption, assuring that they use "the same amount as any closed-loop cooling system," a point that may help ease local concerns about resource usage.

President Barbón expressed satisfaction at being able to announce the investment and framed the project within a broader political context, offering implicit criticism of the opposition. He noted that Asturias "is a land of opportunities" and argued that "it is the companies that announce projects once they are ready," in contrast to what he described as "showboating" on the part of other political leaders. His remarks signal the strategic importance of the project for the region's economic development and its positioning as an emerging hub for digital infrastructure in southern Europe.

The Digital Valley Asturias project reflects a broader trend across Spain and Europe, where governments are increasingly courting data center investments to boost digital capacity and regional economic resilience. With its combination of large-scale computing power, on-site solar generation, and substantial job creation, the Salas campus is poised to become a landmark development in Spain's growing data center landscape, potentially attracting further interest from hyperscale operators and enterprises seeking to expand their European footprint.