Microsoft announced that it would be almost will quadruple its investments in Spain in the next two years for the development of artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure. For this, the company will invest up to $2.1 billion between 2024 and the end of 2025 here, which will be the company’s biggest investment in Spain since its arrival 37 years ago.

For this, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Microsoft President Brad Smithdefined a framework for cooperation regarding the application of artificial intelligence in public administration and also for strengthening national cyber security.

Among the measures that Microsoft will carry out in connection with this investment is the opening of a cloud region of data centers in the Community of Madrid. It also intends to build a data center campus in Aragon to provide services to European companies and public entities.

These two infrastructures will offer Microsoft cloud services with maximum guarantees of data sovereignty, security and privacy. They will also offer Spanish and European companies and public administrations all of AI’s solutions. IDC estimates that Microsoft data centers in Spain will contribute 8.4 billion euros to the national GDP and contribute to the creation of 69,000 jobs between 2026 and 2030.

In addition to the investment, Pedro Sánchez and Brad Smith launched a new collaboration framework between Microsoft and the Spanish government that will see both parties work together to apply responsible artificial intelligence to improve the services they provide. citizens, as well as in supporting innovation based on artificial intelligence, strengthening national cyber security and cyber resilience of companies, public organizations and critical infrastructures in Spain.

This collaboration is based within the framework of the National Strategy of Artificial Intelligence and the National Strategy of Cyber ​​Security defined by the Spanish Government, which formulated four lines of action. The first is to expand the use of AI in public administration to modernize administrative processes and provide officials with the AI ​​tools they need to improve their productivity and efficiency.

Best practices for implementing generative AI solutions in public administration and for AI training plans for civil servants will also be shared in line with AI use cases for specific positions defined by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Service.

The second line of action of the framework is to promote the use of responsible AI, for which Microsoft will share its standards for responsible AI design with the Spanish AI supervisory agency, AESIA, as well as implementation guides and best practice documentation in this area. .

The third line includes the strengthening of national cyber security and specifically the cyber resilience of critical infrastructures. To this end, Microsoft and the National Cryptology Center CNI will jointly explore the improvement of early warning and response mechanisms to computer security incidents in public administration.

And finally, the last line focuses on improving cyber resilience in companies. Microsoft will work with INCIBE to improve the security of Spanish companies. Primarily small and medium-sized enterprises. To this end, it will provide access to telemetry and global information on potential threats as well as cyber attacks that may affect companies and public administrations in Spain. Joint actions on cyber security for SMEs and citizens in general will also be launched.