What Happens When $90 Billion of Data Centers Come to Town

Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the worldAmericas+1 212 318 2000EMEA+44 20 7330 7500Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the worldAmericas+1 212 318 2000EMEA+44 20 7330 7500Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000The AI Race:A data-center buildout in the Spanish region of Aragón has divided locals and regional officials.Photographer: Ángel García/BloombergBig Tech companies say northern Spain’s AI buildout is going so well, it should be a model for other parts of the EU. For local residents, the reality is more complicated.When Paz Orge Acebillo’s family received a letter on behalf of Amazon Web Services proposing a “private amicable agreement” to buy the land her family had owned for nearly half a century, she thought it was a scam. The letter cited a government-backed data-center project labelled “of general interest.” It promised her father “superior” compensation and signed off with an urgent request: The family had four days to make their interest known.“My mother called me, she was alarmed,” said Acebillo, whose family has long used their small patch of land in Aragón, northern Spain, to grow vegetables and to gather for birthday celebrations, communions and summer evenings.