Construction has commenced on Global Switch’s second data center in Madrid, Spain.

When built, Madrid 2 will be the second facility on Global Switch’s Madrid data center campus, located next to Madrid 1. The company announced the groundbreaking this week on LinkedIn.

The 24,000 sqm (258,335 sq ft) colocation facility will have a capacity of 56MW. Madrid 2 will support AI, cloud, and high-performance computing. The data center is set to come online in 2029 and reach full capacity by 2032. The contractor for the building is Spain-based EIGO Construcciones.

The existing facility at Global Switch’s Madrid data center campus, Madrid 1, was built in 2000 and has since undergone expansions, with upgrades planned through 2027. The 12,000 sqm (129,165 sq ft) colocation data center has a capacity of 14MW.

With the addition of the Madrid 2 facility, the Global Switch Madrid data center campus will have a combined capacity of 70MW. The site is located on Calle Yécora, close to the city center and financial center. It is an area known as ‘Silicon Alley’ due to the high concentration of technology and internet companies in the region, which also has the highest per capita connectivity in Spain.

Global Switch was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in London, UK. It currently operates 16 data centers across Europe and Asia Pacific, totaling around 428,000 sqm (4.6 million sq ft). The company is majority owned by China’s Jiangsu Shagang Group.

Madrid is Spain’s primary digital and data center hub, with 81 data centers according to Data Center Map.