Spanish operator Templus has started work on a data center in the autonomous city of Ceuta.

The first stone of the center has been placed in the Puntilla dock, with the presence of institutional, business, and social representatives.

The facility will have a surface area of 2,500 sqm (269,10 sq ft) and an initial power of 1.2MW, expandable to 2.4MW in a second phase. The new facility is expected to be operational by the first half of 2026.

Nacho Velilla, CEO of Templus, highlighted the uniqueness of the autonomous city as an African enclave with European regulatory and connectivity benefits, a key aspect for the decision to build from scratch a facility that is integrated into the company's national network.

Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast, bordered by Morocco. GTD's Dos Continentes I & II cables connect the city to mainland Spain. Plans for a data center at the Port Area were first announced in 2023.

Templus was launched last year after ICG and Teras Capital acquired the data center business of Spanish telco Avatel. The company then bought a data center from insurance firm Mapfe in Madrid, and recently acquired Spanish colo bitNAP from Cellnex, taking over a facility in Barcelona.

The company operates facilities across Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Seville, Mallorca, and Ceuta, totaling 15.8MW across more than 4,000 sqm (43,055 sq ft).

Templus said it aims to have 20 data centers in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of 2025 and has its “sights set” on Valencia, the Basque Country, and Galicia. It is also aiming to expand into Portugal.