Un ejecutivo de la Sepi Digital presidirá la gigafactoría de IA

José Marino García, the executive director of capitalization at the public investor company Sepi Digital, has been appointed as the president of the private-public consortium leading the development of a new EU AI gigafactory. The consortium includes Telefonica, Banco Santander, Telefónica's ACS subsidiary, and the Spanish Technology Transformation Company (SETT), which holds a 47% stake in the venture.

Other key members of the board are Alfredo Serret, Telefonica's director of business for infrastructure and real estate, and Daniel Barriuso, the vice president of banking at Banco Santander. García has been a leading investment executive at SETT for over a year, bringing two decades of experience in public entities and regulatory bodies.

He has served as head of strategic projects at the Economic Affairs Office of the Government's Presidency and as head of competition at the National Competition and Markets Commission. In a noteworthy development, the consortium has secured backing from multinational venture capital firm Multiverse Computing, which holds a 4% stake.

The board also includes Vicente Marav from ACS, representing the company's digital and energy division, and Ignacio Pereira, a legal officer from ACS. The proposed AI gigafactory aims to bolster technological sovereignty in the region and expand cloud infrastructure. The 5,000 million euro project, which would be funded by the Spanish government and the EU, is expected to draw proposals for multiple sites, including Mataró la Nova in Tarragona and San Fernando de Henares in Madrid.

The EU's call for bids remains open until November 12, with the consortium expected to officially submit its application in September. The competition for these AI mega-structures is fierce, with over 75 European initiatives vying for a share of the 20,000 million euro InvestAI fund.