The Iberian Peninsula has emerged as the world’s first “Distributed Digital Capital” and is poised to become Europe’s next major AI hub, according to a new study by Dstream Group, commissioned by DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator.
The region represents a unique digital ecosystem ready to serve the demands of AI, with distributed infrastructure interconnecting the strategic hubs of Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon. Together, these interconnected hubs create a unique digital ecosystem that combines geographic diversity with the low-latency connectivity required for AI and other data-intensive workloads. With this, Iberia joins the ranks of traditional single-city Digital Capitals such as Frankfurt, London, and New York.
The study, “The Iberian Distributed Digital Capital: Powering Cloud & AI Through a New Geography of Digital Hubs,” was launched at this year’s Atlantic Convergence in Lisbon, one of Europe’s leading digital infrastructure events. Publication of the study coincides with the 10th anniversary of DE-CIX’s entry to the Iberian market.
Low Latency Connectivity and Massive 9 Gigawatt Data Center Boom Transform the Peninsula
The Iberian ecosystem currently comprises 35 submarine cables landing at 20 coastal points, 12 major terrestrial backbone networks, 13 Internet Exchanges, 100+ data centers, and over 800 networks – a density that compares favorably with some of the leading Digital Capitals globally. Low latency connectivity of 7-8 milliseconds (ms) connect the interconnection hub Madrid with the two coastal subsea-cable and interconnection hubs Barcelona and Lisbon. This allows seamless data exchange for AI and other workloads distributed across the peninsula. As such, Iberia provides a unique opportunity to combine the infrastructure of AI training and inference with the strength of EU sovereignty and serve the needs of network and data center operators, as well as enterprises.
With the AI boom already strong, the Iberian Peninsula has experienced unprecedented growth especially in the data center sector, with close to 9 Gigawatts (GW) of new facilities planned in the coming years, according to the study. As a strategic interconnection gateway linking Europe with the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East, Iberia provides secure, high-performance, and sovereign infrastructure for AI use cases for both domestic use and export. Alongside the major hubs of Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon, Iberia gains further depth through supporting nodes such as Valencia, Bilbao, and Sines, as well as the Aragón and Extremadura regions.
Leading Internet Exchange Operator DE-CIX Celebrates 10 Years in the Iberian Market
The release of the study coincides with the 10th anniversary of DE-CIX’s expansion to Iberia and the launch of DE-CIX Madrid, today the largest IX on the peninsula. Established in 2016, the Internet, Cloud, and AI Exchange connects 220+ networks, with over 11 Terabits of connected capacity and peak traffic exceeding 1.5 Terabits per second (Tbit/s). The IX operator further established DE-CIX Lisbon in 2018 and DE-CIX Barcelona in 2021. Today, these form an integral part of the Iberian interconnection ecosystem, enabling low-latency connectivity between networks, clouds, enterprises, and digital infrastructure providers.
“The Dstream Group study clearly demonstrates the uniqueness and importance of the Iberian ecosystem – unlike any other on the planet,” commented Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “Iberia can now join the ranks of the most prized digital locations in the world – as the world’s first Distributed Digital Capital. When DE-CIX first established DE-CIX Madrid 10 years ago, Iberia was not yet on the radar for many infrastructure operators. Today, vast AI-related investment volumes are flowing onto the peninsula, and DE-CIX is proud to offer our AI Exchange functionality to make this infrastructure easily available for networks and enterprises.”
“Acting as a gateway to five continents, Iberia is truly globally connected. Iberia’s sovereign, AI-ready infrastructure is ready to serve not only continental Europe but also the entire Atlantic and Mediterranean regions. This would not be possible without IX operators like DE-CIX providing seamless, low-latency connectivity,” said Serge Radovcic, co-author of the study. “The data clearly shows that Iberia has the potential to establish itself as the next European AI hub. In the age of AI, direct and secure network interconnection via Internet Exchanges has become an increasingly strategic necessity, not only for network operators, but also for data center operators and enterprises.”