With artificial intelligence (AI) concentrated in the hands of a few global powers —mainly the United States and China—, Europe seeks to forge its own path of innovation and technological leadership. In this scenario, Barcelona is positioned as a strategic hub for AI innovation, hosting one of the artificial intelligence factories promoted by the European Union across the continent. A project that is now making decisive progress with the expansion of the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, awarded to Telefónica and Fujitsu and which will involve an investment of 129 million euros.
The expansion of the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer ---after its launch at the end of 2023--- seeks to strengthen the infrastructure of this AI factory of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), one of the first seven approved by the European Commission. The expansion project has been awarded to Fsas Technologies —Fujitsu's division specialized in the hardware business for data centers— and Telefónica, in a contract worth 129 million euros, co-financed 50% by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) ---the European Union's supercomputing joint undertaking---, and 50% by Spain, Portugal, and Turkey.
In the case of the Spanish investment, which amounts to 60 million euros, it comes from both the central government (through the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) and the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The expansion will be installed during the first half of 2026 in two spaces of the BSC-CNS: the main data center and the Torre Girona chapel, incorporating technologies from large companies such as Supermicro (in hardware), IBM (in storage and software), VAST (in storage) and Nvidia (in software and hardware).
The central objective of this AI factory is to democratize access to advanced supercomputing, allowing startups and SMEs to experiment, train, and scale their artificial intelligence models, and develop innovative solutions in areas such as health, energy, telecommunications, or other strategic sectors.
Parallel to the expansion of this infrastructure, the BSC will continue to promote its AI project incubation model through Pier 07 of Tech Barcelona, another of the central spaces of this European artificial intelligence factory. With an area of 1,000 square meters, Pier 07 offers technological training, specialized advice, and opportunities to validate projects together with BSC professionals. It is expected that this initiative in Tech Barcelona will be able to serve 2,000 companies and more than 500 technological projects in the coming years.
Companies with more advanced solutions will subsequently be able to access MareNostrum 5 ---which in 2026 will already have a larger area thanks to the expansion awarded to Fujitsu and Telefónica--- to develop and scale their solutions.
With this expansion, Barcelona reinforces its position as a European benchmark in artificial intelligence, consolidating itself as a strategic hub of technological leadership, promoting the creation of its own AI solutions and generating an ecosystem that connects research, companies, and public administration. The model of the Catalan capital, in fact, will be replicated in other countries of the European Union, such as Portugal, Turkey, and Romania, with the aim of moving towards a more sovereign and competitive Europe.