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In May 2023, Sener announced an agreement with Quark to become its majority shareholder. Since then, the company has been exploiting synergies with Sener on projects in sectors such as mobility, energy and digital. 

Quark is an engineering and architectural firm specialising in data centre design with over 14 years of experience. 

It is currently the leader in data centre engineering in Southern Europe and one of the top 20 in the world. 

We talk about the state of the data centre market. 

What is the state of the data centre market? 

The sector has grown exponentially since its inception some 20 years ago. Countries such as the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Germany have been able to capitalise on the momentum of data centre development. 

In Spain, Quark began operations in 2009 as virtually the only engineering company with the capacity to design the necessary facilities in the country. 

Since then, the evolution of the sector has been unstoppable, especially with cloud services completely transforming the market. 

Today, Spain has become a focal point for companies from all over the world who want to take advantage of the facilities needed for today’s market in the country. This has enabled Quark to grow up to 20 times. 

Spain’s advantages as an energy producer 

There are several advantages that place Spain in this strategic position. The first is the fact that Madrid is the gateway for data to and from the US and Latin America. 

Spain is currently the only place in Europe where the speed is fast enough. This capacity is due to the large number of submarine cables that reach the Iberian Peninsula from the US, Africa, Latin America and even France. 

Supply constraints in northern Europe put Spain at the forefront. As a result, submarine fibre-optic cables connecting other continents to Europe have also landed on the peninsula. 

In addition, European data from the US used to be routed through the UK, but current requirements demand the presence of two separate channels for security reasons, and Madrid was chosen as the other location. 

On the other hand, there is the challenge of energy availability, but here too Spain is in a very strong position thanks to the dynamism of the country’s renewable energy sector. 

Spain’s renewable energy production capacity is up to four or five times greater than its consumption. This is very attractive for large foreign companies because they need intensive energy consumption and Spain has the necessary surplus. 

The only problem at present is the development of a suitable grid to transport this amount of energy, something the central government is already investing in. 

Quark and Sener’s expansion plans and new industry challenges 

Of course, the data centre market is booming, not only in Spain, but worldwide. And the synergies between Quark and Sener are perfect to take advantage of this situation. 

Sener’s presence in 20 countries is one of the foundations on which Quark hopes to build its international expansion. 

In the last six months, it has already opened an office in Germany, and short- and medium-term projects include offices in France and Portugal, as well as developments in Chile, Mexico, and possibly Italy. 

In addition, Quark expects to be able to successfully meet the challenges that the market presents on the horizon. These include the energy requirements of artificial intelligence. Estimating that buildings will require up to seven times more energy than they do today. Around 100 to 200 megawatts, which will need to be met by strategically located facilities and, of course, the necessary power generation capacity.