The Rubix Data Centers Flix Catalonia project will see more than €1 billion, roughly US$1.14 billion, spent converting the site of the former Ercros chemical works into a large scale artificial intelligence data center in southern Catalonia, Spain. Rubix Data Centers, the data center arm of Barcelona based Submer Group, will both build and run the facility at Flix in the Ribera d’Ebre county of Tarragona province. The scheme was unveiled on 11 July 2026 at an event led by Salvador Illa, President of the Government of Catalonia, alongside Miquel Sàmper, the regional Minister of Business and Labour, and it was signed within the framework of Catalonia’s reindustrialisation round tables, a mechanism set up to push closed industrial plants back into productive use. Rubix is using a develop and operate model, meaning it will construct the campus and then run it to agreed service levels for a single long term third party tenant rather than sell it on. The design relies on liquid cooling that consumes no water in operation, which matters in a Mediterranean catchment already under drought pressure. Regional government figures carried in Spanish media put the built footprint at about 13,000 square metres with installed electrical capacity of 85 to 90 megawatts, although it was reported that neither capacity nor a construction programme was disclosed at launch. Delivery is split across two phases, and up to 150 permanent skilled jobs are expected once the campus is fully operational.

Why the €1 Billion Cost Fits Catalonia’s Data Center Pipeline and Spain’s Wider Build Programme

Spain has become the most active construction market for digital infrastructure in southern Europe, and Catalonia is competing hard within it. Industry body Spain DC has forecast €66.9 billion of investment in Spanish data centers through 2030, with installed IT capacity rising roughly sixfold and Madrid, Catalonia and Aragon absorbing most of the work. The Catalan government has identified 26 new data center projects against 17 existing facilities in the region, while Colliers has put current and planned Barcelona capacity at around 275 megawatts. Set against Aragon, where more than 1,800 megawatts of IT capacity has been announced on the back of commitments from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Blackstone, an 85 to 90 megawatt campus at Flix is a mid sized play, and its value lies in location rather than scale. Spain’s appetite for technically demanding builds is not limited to compute. In Andalusia, the fusion materials testing facility known as IFMIF-DONES has moved from groundwork into its main construction stage at Escúzar near Granada, with a joint venture of Ferrovial, FCC and Añil appointed under the design and construction framework agreement, a building permit issued by the Escúzar town council in June 2026 and construction supervision services launched in late July 2026. The two schemes sit at opposite ends of the same national trend, which is heavy capital flowing into specialist technical facilities in regions that lost traditional industry. Flix in particular has been shaped by that loss, with the Ercros plant shut since 2023 and the surrounding area also facing the eventual retirement of nearby nuclear generation.

Rubix Flix Data Center Timeline and the Open Questions Before 2027

Local reporting citing the regional government has pointed to the campus being operational by the end of 2027, with phased expansion after that, which is an aggressive programme for a brownfield conversion of this type. Three questions sit over the schedule. First, no main contractor has been named publicly, and no consultant team has been announced. Second, the anchor tenant has not been disclosed, and the develop and operate model depends on landing one. Third, and most consequential for the sector as a whole, Spain tightened the rules on grid access in 2026 through Royal Decree Law 7/2026, forcing holders of demand permits to take on capacity reservation costs or give the capacity back, a change widely expected to clear speculative schemes out of the pipeline. Projects with committed finance, a real client and advanced permits are the ones expected to survive. Rubix parent Submer claims access to around 8GW of power across vacant sites in the Americas, EMEA and APAC, and Rubix chief executive John Eland has stressed that the company intends to stay, saying it is “not simply passing through Flix”. Site preparation on a former chemical works also brings remediation and ground condition risk that has not yet been quantified in public.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: Rubix Data Centers AI campus at Flix
• Location: Former Ercros plant, Flix, Ribera d’Ebre, Tarragona province, Catalonia, Spain
• Project Value: More than €1 billion, about US$1.14 billion, per Submer Group
• Client, Developer and Operator: Rubix Data Centers, a Submer Group company
• Main Contractor: Not yet disclosed
• Anchor Tenant: Not yet disclosed, a single long term third party tenant is being sought
• Reported Capacity: Installed electrical capacity of 85 to 90 megawatts, per regional government figures reported in Spanish media and not confirmed by Submer
• Reported Built Area: Approximately 13,000 square metres
• Key Components: Data halls arranged around a central building, land, power, cooling and buildings for high density AI compute
• Procurement Model: Develop and operate, with Rubix building the facility and running it to agreed service levels
• Expected Completion: Operational by the end of 2027 according to local reporting, delivered in two phases
• Jobs Created: Up to 150 permanent skilled roles in operations, engineering, facilities management, maintenance, security and technical support

Project Team

• Developer and Operator: Rubix Data Centers, a Submer Group company
• Parent Company: Submer Group, headquartered in Barcelona, led by Chief Executive Patrick Smets
• Rubix Leadership: John Eland, Chief Executive Officer, Rubix Data Centers
• Main Contractor: Not yet awarded
• Design Consultants: Not yet disclosed
• Regional Authority: Government of Catalonia, Department of Business and Labour, represented by Minister Miquel Sàmper
• Investment Promotion Agency: Catalonia Trade and Investment
• Site Context: The former Ercros plant, closed since 2023 and reported to have been acquired by the Portuguese group Bondalti

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will the Rubix Data Centers Flix Catalonia project cost? Submer Group has committed more than €1 billion, about US$1.14 billion, to the AI data center at Flix. The investment covers land, power, cooling and buildings across two delivery phases.

When will the Rubix Data Centers Flix Catalonia facility be completed? Local reporting citing the Catalan government points to the campus being operational by the end of 2027, with phased expansion afterwards. Submer has not published a detailed construction programme.

Who is building the Rubix Data Centers Flix Catalonia data center? No main contractor has been announced. Rubix Data Centers is developing and will operate the facility itself under a develop and operate model for a third party tenant.

How many jobs will the Rubix Data Centers Flix Catalonia project create? Up to 150 permanent skilled jobs are expected once the campus is fully operational, spanning operations, engineering, facilities management, maintenance, security and technical support.