Spanish data center operator Nabiax has begun construction on a new facility, Alcalá Data Center 3 (ADC3), in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, marking an investment of approximately €800 million (~$918 million). The company held a cornerstone-laying ceremony to mark the start of the build, according to DataCenterDynamics.
ADC3 will complete Nabiax's existing Alcalá campus and will gradually add up to 100MW of IT capacity through 2029, with the site designed to serve hyperscale customers, cloud services, and AI workloads. The new facility will use a closed-loop cooling system. Once complete, ADC3 will bring Nabiax's total installed IT power across its Madrid and Catalonia sites in Spain to 135MW.
The campus already includes ADC1, launched in 2013 (4,800 sqm), and ADC2, launched in 2022 (6,000 sqm), which together total 22MW. Nabiax also operates a 10MW facility in Julián Camarillo near Madrid and a 1.3MW site in Terrassa, outside Barcelona.
The project includes a collaboration with the University of Alcalá to fund scholarships, internships, and research aimed at drawing locally trained talent into the digital infrastructure sector. Nabiax CEO Pablo Ruiz-Escribano said data centers "have become critical infrastructure for the digital economy" and are "also the home of artificial intelligence," pointing to applications ranging from medical research to public services. He added: "The challenge is not choosing between sustainability and growth; the challenge is ensuring they go hand in hand."
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Community of Madrid, spoke at the ceremony and said data centers "are not a problem, but rather part of the solution and an opportunity that we certainly intend to take advantage of." She noted the Madrid region currently counts 58 data center projects, with 41 operational and 15 under construction.
Nabiax was created in 2019 when Asterion Industrial Partners acquired 11 data centers across Spain and Latin America from Telefónica, which contributed three more assets in 2021 in exchange for a 20% stake in the company. Nabiax sold its 11 Latin American data centers to Actis in 2023, and Keppel-linked asset manager Aermont acquired Nabiax in 2024.