Digital Realty has announced the opening of its first data center in Barcelona, BCN1, located in the Sant Adrià de Besòs innovation area. This new data center reflects Digital Realty’s commitment to turning the Mediterranean into a global digital infrastructure hub for next-generation technologies, such as AI and cloud computing, and reinforces Barcelona’s role as a strategic data center and interconnectivity enclave, along with Madrid, Marseille, Athens, Heraklion, Rome and Lisbon.
Wide range of network providers
The new data center, which will have a capacity of 14 MW, is designed to facilitate connectivity with a wide range of network providers and is situated at a key intersection of the global internet highway. This data center connects the Americas, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia with minimal latency, consolidating Barcelona as a strategic data center node on an international scale.
Barcelona complements Digital Realty’s data center campus in Marseille, improving network diversity and resilience in the region. Submarine cables reaching Barcelona are interconnected in the Marseille data center, while cross-border fiber optic connections with Marseille and Frankfurt further reinforce the role of the Barcelona data center in regional and international digital traffic.
BCN1 will contribute to promoting the digitalization of the Catalan economy by adding to Digital Realty’s current offering of data centers in the Iberian Peninsula, which includes the recently announced Lisbon data center and the four already operational data centers in Madrid. Together, Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon make up the most interconnected regional data center platform on the peninsula, reinforcing Digital Realty’s presence in EMEA.
“Barcelona is establishing itself as a premier digital gateway to the Mediterranean. Digital Realty’s data center in Barcelona places us at the heart of that transformation, built to the highest sustainability standards. Together with our data centers in Madrid and Lisbon, we offer our clients the most interconnected and environmentally responsible regional data center platform on the Iberian Peninsula,” states Fabrice Coquio, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Europe Med at Digital Realty.
Increased investments in connectivity
Barcelona is rapidly becoming an essential digital infrastructure node in southwestern Europe, driven by strong growth in the data center market, increasing investments in connectivity and the arrival of new high-capacity submarine cables. Strategic mooring points – including 2Africa and Medusa in Barcelona, along with Marea, Grace Hopper and EllaLink in other areas of the Iberian Peninsula – reinforce the city’s attractiveness as a key data center location. Data center capacity in Barcelona is expected to grow significantly through 2030, reflecting increasing demand and its growing regional relevance.
Barcelona is quickly becoming an essential node of digital infrastructures
The opening of BCN1 further expands PlatformDIGITAL, Digital Realty’s global data center platform, which enables international and local companies to quickly scale their data and AI deployments in a sustainable way. As a signatory of the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact, Digital Realty has designed this data center with the highest standards of energy efficiency and sustainability, incorporating advanced power and cooling architectures, the use of renewable energy and backup generators powered by HVO100, a renewable biodiesel.
All of this reinforces Digital Realty’s commitment to decarbonization in every phase of the data center lifecycle, balancing the growing demand for AI-ready infrastructure with strict sustainability criteria.
