Barcelona has managed to establish itself as a magnet for foreign investment, especially in sectors such as health or deep tech. In recent years, technology companies from all over the world are choosing the city to settle, expand and develop their innovation projects, investing in digital tools as innovative and popular as artificial intelligence. So much so that the Catalan capital has emerged as the third city in the world that attracts the most foreign investment projects in artificial intelligence.
This is confirmed by the study Global Locations Trends 2025, prepared by the IT consultancy IBM, through its Plant Location International unit, in collaboration with Moody's, which analyzes cross-border business projects carried out last year on a global scale. The report places the Catalan capital only behind London and Singapore in terms of total investment attracted, making Barcelona the first city within the European Union in this category.
Artificial intelligence is called to change and revolutionize both the daily life of the population and work flows and processes. However, for now this digital tool is not eliminating jobs, but rather, in the Catalan capital, it is favoring the creation of highly qualified jobs. In fact, Catalonia is the first region in the area known as EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in job creation from this foreign investment in AI projects.
What's more, Catalonia concentrates 20% of these jobs generated throughout the State, and even ahead of Madrid, which represents 14%. By cities, Barcelona is positioned as the third city in this EMEA zone in job creation derived from foreign investment in AI, only behind London, which again leads the ranking, and Dubai.
All in all, the figures show that artificial intelligence is becoming one of the main bets of foreign companies established in Catalonia. Of the 160 tech hubs installed in the Catalan capital, almost 70% of these dedicate their professional activity to the field of deep tech. Among them, the vast majority (80%) develop artificial intelligence projects, being the tool par excellence, and far above those centers dedicated to blockchain (10%) or robotics (9%).
Almost 500 Catalan companies dedicated to AI
Among the foreign investments captured in 2024, stands out Sony AI, the artificial intelligence development center of the Japanese multinational, focused on accelerating scientific research and gastronomy projects. Also, in June of last year, the company software DataxStream also landed in the Catalan capital to lead from here its expansion throughout the rest of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, creating thirty jobs.Likewise, the German company ICFO settled in Tech Barcelona to promote the use of artificial intelligence in its reusable packaging for the transport of fresh food. This same year, Sanofi has also decided to reinforce its commitment to the Catalan capital with a new research and development hub (R&D), with the aim of using AI to develop new treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis or atopic dermatitis. The center, which will be located in 22@, expects to reach 300 employees by 2026.
But it is not only these multinational companies that invest in AI. Last year, 24% of Catalan companies – with more than nine employees – invested in technology linked to AI. And specifically, Catalonia already has almost 500 companies that dedicate their professional activity to developing and improving this technology. These companies, as a whole, employ 14,5000 people and in 2024 had an aggregated turnover of 2,155 million euros.