US-based AI cloud provider CoreWeave has entered a strategic partnership with MERLIN Edged to launch one of Spain’s first large-scale NVIDIA Hopper-based AI supercomputing facilities. It is an effort to localise advanced compute infrastructure.
The new 15MW facility in Barcelona, officially inaugurated today by the city’s Mayor Jaume Collboni, will host 10,224 NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core GPUs, connected via InfiniBand, and is set to expand further in 2026 with the addition of a Blackwell supercomputer.
The move is part of CoreWeave’s broader $2.2 billion investment plan across Europe, announced in 2024.
“This asset represents the realization of a shared vision: to transform Barcelona into a true digital port in the Mediterranean, and into an international benchmark for the digital economy and technological innovation," said Mayor Jaume Collboni. "The Barcelona Town Hall remains committed to foster a supportive environment for these types of initiatives."
The Barcelona facility will be operated by MERLIN Edged, a joint venture between Spanish real estate heavyweight MERLIN Properties and US-based Edged Energy.
“Catalonia is positioned as a strategic technology hub,” said Ismael Clemente, CEO of MERLIN Properties. “The region’s renewable energy mix, combined with robust connectivity, makes it ideal for hosting AI hyperscalers like CoreWeave.”
“CoreWeave is pleased to collaborate with MERLIN Edged as it brings highly performant and scalable compute to Europe, powering the next wave of AI,” said Mike Mattacola, GM, International at CoreWeave. “This collaboration aligns with our commitment to sustainability and continuously improving the efficiency of our operations.”
The facility’s capabilities are expected to support the increasing demand from AI model developers and enterprises across Europe seeking sovereign cloud infrastructure to train and deploy advanced AI models. This aligns with ongoing efforts by the European Union to enhance digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on U.S.-based hyperscalers.
“Our region is articulating its ambition to establish itself as a preeminent European AI hub,” said Salvador Illa, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya. “This new partnership between CoreWeave and MERLIN Edged sets us at the forefront of the European artificial intelligence landscape.”
The Barcelona data centre is directly linked to the Barcelona Cable Landing Station (BCLS), which connects to some of the world’s fastest subsea cables. This allows for high-bandwidth access to North America, Europe, and Africa, and strengthens Barcelona's position as a Mediterranean digital gateway.
“We are proud to partner with CoreWeave,” said Jakob Carnemark, founder of Edged Energy and Endeavour. “This region offers a unique combination of dense fibre network and abundant renewable energy, making it the ideal home for an AI hyperscaler.”
The announcement reflects the rapid global acceleration in demand for AI infrastructure. Companies like CoreWeave, Lambda, and Voltage Park are competing to deploy hyperscale GPU clusters outside the U.S. as the AI arms race intensifies, especially for training large language models (LLMs) and generative AI systems.
NVIDIA’s H200 and Blackwell chips are at the centre of this surge, and facilities like the Barcelona data centre are becoming critical in addressing GPU shortages and latency-sensitive use cases across European markets.
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