Data centers: the new gold rush in Aragon

Zaragoza/Teruel"We'll have good news about that soon," says José Miguel Sánchez, the general manager of the Zaragoza Chamber of Commerce, smiling when asked about the possibility of Aragon surpassing Catalonia in per capita income and moving from being the fifth richest autonomous community in Spain to the fourth. Sánchez is the leading figure of the economic euphoria reigning in Aragon thanks to the influx of millions in investments announced by major American technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft, as well as Blackstone, to build data centers. So far, some thirty have already been announced. The figures are staggering, but depending on the specific investment, we're talking about sums of money that exceed Aragon's current GDP, which stands at 49 billion euros. "This is Aragon's moment," declares Sánchez from his office in the Chamber's historic headquarters, located next to the construction site of the Nueva Romareda stadium, one of the football stadiums vying to host matches of the 2030 World Cup.

Is it feasible, however, for Aragon to surpass Catalonia in per capita income? The reality is that 25 years ago the difference was around €2,500 in favor of Catalonia, and currently this figure has shrunk to about €1,000 (see graph). 2022 was the year Aragon came closest to overtaking Catalonia: the difference narrowed to just €336. In fact, Huesca's GDP per capita is higher than Lleida's. Now, thanks to data centers, Aragon is preparing to take the big leap. The atmosphere is a bit like something out of a movie. Welcome Mr. MarshallBut they expect a very different ending.

If all the announced energy-intensive projects are implemented, Aragon will surpass Catalonia not only in per capita income but also in electricity consumption. Connecting all the announced facilities would increase Aragon's current consumption by at least fivefold, from 10,000 GWh per year to more than 55,000 GWh. Currently, Aragon produces twice as much electricity as it consumes; therefore, it would also need to increase its production significantly. This is a colossal challenge that not everyone considers viable or desirable.

Most data centers are planned around Zaragoza. Economist Carlos López, a member of Ecologists in Action, receives the ARA in Burgo de Ebro, where one of the three Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the region is already operational and an expansion is under construction. "Be prepared to get muddy if you want a good view," he warns us. And indeed, following the final route of the Imperial Canal of Aragon, now a stream, we climb a hill from where we can see the scale of the center and the bustling activity of the workers building it. From the outside, everything is an aseptic white, with large warehouses, water tanks, and kilometers of metal pipes. All protected by fences and cameras, like a military installation. The Amazon name is nowhere to be seen. The purpose is to house servers that must always be kept at a temperature between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius. "This center needs 180 million liters of water a year," López explains, pointing to several nearby water reservoirs, "and it requires 300 MWh of electrical power." "To give you an idea: three centers like this one—and Amazon alone has planned five—consume as much energy as the entire province of Aragon." "And how many people will it employ?" we ask. "A maximum of one hundred per center, we estimate, and most would be security and cleaning staff. How can this be approved?" he wonders.

Ecologists in Action is leading the opposition to the data centers. They have drafted hundreds of objections and filed a legal challenge to prevent the centers from being granted PIGA status, meaning they are strategic projects for Aragon, which would entail fewer bureaucratic procedures and tax breaks. However, the situation is viewed quite differently from the offices in Zaragoza. The dean of the College of Economists, Francisco Gracia, considers the opposition to be very small and downplays the energy problem: "The problem isn't production. Eighty percent of our energy is renewable, and we export half of it. The problem is distribution; we need permits from the Ministry of Industry to make more connections," he explains. An article by researchers However, the University of Zaragoza warns that to meet the projected demand, up to 39% of the territory would have to be filled with windmills and solar panels, doubling the consumption of water that is already scarce.

Another challenge Gracia identifies is the lack of labor and housing to accommodate it. It is estimated that 36,000 workers will be needed during the construction period of the centers, and that around 10,000 stable jobs will remain once they are completed, according to estimates. A recent report by the Basilio Paraíso Foundation, he think tank The Zaragoza Chamber of Commerce estimates total planned investments at €70 billion and gross value added generated at €17.464 billion for the period 2025-2035. Ibercaja forecasts that Aragon will grow by 2.6% in 2026, above the Spanish average. "We have the right to be optimistic," emphasizes Francisco Gracia.

López, on the other hand, believes that their bet on data centers is suicidal for Aragon. "I am convinced that up to 100,000 jobs could be lost, because in the medium term they will displace local economic activity. This has been studied and is called energy gentrification," he states, citing case studies such as that of Virginia.Alec MacGillisIn his opinion, the exponential increase in electricity demand will drive up electricity prices, leading to closures. "These companies are acquiring all the electricity connections in Spain," he says, and warns that similar projects are planned in Catalonia, specifically in Cerdanyola and Móra d'Ebre.

Enol Nieto, a researcher at the University of Vic, speaks of "sacrifice zones" where resources are being depleted and activities are taking place that have no impact on people's lives and are crippling agriculture. Carlos López sums it up this way: "In the end, they're going to take our electricity and water and make us citizens pay for it." For both of them, data centers are a clear example of the extractive economy practiced by large American multinationals.

Aragonese social peace

However, this apocalyptic narrative is not shared by authorities, business leaders, or economists, who believe that foreign investment, especially in technology, represents the future of Aragon. They do, however, insist that the key lies not in the data centers themselves, but in everything they can bring about. "Our goal must be to create a network of SMEs around major projects, as happened with Opel; otherwise, we will have failed," warns Sánchez. His dream is to transform Aragon into a technology and green energy hub, replicating the impact of General Motors' arrival in Figueruelas in the early 1980s. Therefore, more than the data centers, the Chamber of Commerce is emphasizing another major project: the battery gigafactory that will be built by the giant X giant, which will create 3,000 jobs. "We want it to have a multiplier effect on the automotive sector and not end up like the Catalans with Ebro, where in the end the cars are manufactured in China," explains Sánchez.

The formula they offer is simple: strategic location, unlimited land, cheap green energy, minimal bureaucracy, and tax breaks. However, there is another factor attributable to the Aragonese character. "Investors highly value social peace and the lack of conflict," says José Miguel Sánchez. "We like dialogue, centrism, broad consensus, and stability," adds Francisco Gracia. According to data from the Ministry of Labor, between January and October 2025, there were 2,300 workdays lost to strikes throughout Aragon. In the same period in the Basque Country, there were 144,000. A world of difference.

Is this institutional stability and broad consensus compatible with the rise of an extremist party like Vox? Here, the business sector is wrinkling its nose and admitting a certain unease. "What can't happen is for them to enter a government and then leave. They can't just dedicate themselves to obstructing progress," Sánchez remarks with a touch of indignation. It's clear that in Aragon, something common in Catalonia—like the failure to approve budgets—is seen as a tragedy, since many companies depend on aid and subsidies. The concern with Vox grows when its main rhetorical focus is brought up: the rejection of immigration. Here, business leaders are aghast. "Immigration is fundamental to our economy; let's not fool ourselves about that," Sánchez warns.

Aragon comprises 10% of Spain's territory but only 2.8% of its population. While Catalonia has grown by nearly 2 million people in the same period, Aragon has only increased by 150,000. "We're short of people," business leaders repeat like a mantra. In fact, another study by the Basilio Paraíso Foundation on population notes that 18,000 Aragonese leave the region or move to other autonomous communities each year. "We must increase Zaragoza's attractiveness because otherwise, Madrid will suck up all our talent," says Sánchez. Indeed, he believes the best way to become more attractive is to grow its population to over a million inhabitants, thus surpassing Valencia as Spain's third-largest city. But this goal is difficult because there is also a housing shortage. "We build half the number of apartments we need," Gracia points out.

One characteristic of Aragon is that more than half of its population lives in the capital. And there are no medium-sized cities. After Zaragoza, with 700,000 inhabitants, the most populated is Huesca, with 52,000. Therefore, when you leave the capital, in whichever direction you go, what you see is not a metropolitan area, but emptiness.

Cariñena and the wine

Further south lies the town of Cariñena, which lends its name to one of Spain's oldest wine designations of origin. Its president, Antonio Serrano, is very clear on the subject of the newcomers. "We're surviving thanks to foreign labor because there's no generational succession. The only Spaniards working are the owners," he states.

The primary sector in Aragon is key to the economy, especially thanks to wine and pork, but it offers an added benefit: it keeps people in the region. For young people from Aragon, the allure of Zaragoza is very strong. Serrano admits that the renewable energy boom is affecting the countryside. "Many farmers want to sell their land to build photovoltaic fields because their children don't want to go into agriculture," he explains, describing a phenomenon that Carla Simón portrayed very well in her book. Alcarràs.

However, the Cariñena Designation of Origin is a success story. Unlike Campo de Borja or Somontano, the other Aragonese Designations of Origin, in Cariñena the predominant model is cooperative. "This way we all ensure that we get paid every year," explains Serrano, an enthusiast of cooperatives and their role in the social economy.

Eighty-five percent of Cariñena's production comes from cooperatives, the largest being Grandes Vinos, which brings together five members and has just placed one of its Chardonnays, Anayon, among the top 10 in the world. Its facilities are impressive and have the capacity to bottle 40,000 bottles a day. By pooling their resources, they have achieved maximum mechanization. One modern harvester does the work that used to be done by 100 laborers.

Teruel and its airport

Following the highway towards Teruel, it's easy to get a sense of what the concept of "open Spain" really means. The horizon is filled with fields upon fields, dotted only by the occasional small settlement consisting of a church and a handful of houses, wind farms, and solar panels. That's why the sight of a formation of large aircraft belonging to Lufthansa or British Airways, all perfectly aligned at a huge airport near a provincial capital with fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, is so surprising. What are all those planes doing there?

The answer comes from the airport's general manager, Alejandro Ibrahim, a native of the Canary Islands. "An aircraft has a useful life of 25 years, but every five years it needs to be repainted and undergo all maintenance. And that's what we do here." Teruel Airport is a giant aircraft workshop. There are no passengers, or very few, and the clients are the major airlines of Europe. "Here we have 1,000 direct jobs in the 15 companies dedicated to maintenance, for example, painters, and 2,000 indirect jobs. We are the biggest job creator in Teruel," Ibrahim says proudly.

The success of Teruel Airport is undeniable; so much so that Ibrahim is receiving the ARA (Aragonese Air Force) right after showing the facilities to the Aragonese president and candidate for re-election, Javier Azcón, and the PP (People's Party) president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The PP's slogan in these elections, "Unstoppable Aragon," exemplifies the euphoria that Aragon is experiencing. Pilar Alegría, of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), and the other candidates had already visited.

Ibrahim explains that the airport will also benefit from the increased defense investment expected in the coming years. "Minister Robles came a few months ago to announce a €42 million investment to create a NATO pilot training center here. Pilots will train here to land A400M aircraft in difficult conditions." Aragon has already established its own. hub of the defense industry, which brings together 160 companies, and is chaired by Alejandro Ibrahim himself.

Is Aragon truly "unstoppable"? Is the current euphoria, which the Popular Party hopes to capitalize on, justified? Only time will tell. "In 5 or 10 years, I'm willing to participate in a report to find out if all the economic forecasts have come true," says economist Francisco Gracia. And we're taking him at his word to find out if Aragon has become a new Silicon Valley or, on the contrary, has been exploited by Big Tech.