Figueruelas is that town in Zaragoza where there are more jobs than the number of inhabitants. It is not the only one in Spain, but it is the one that has the best chance of remaining this way in the future. The main reason is the electric battery gigafactory that the Chinese CATL is going to install here, powering the municipality and the entire region “for the next two or three decades,” estimated David Romeral, manager of the Automotive and Mobility Cluster of Aragon. Standard Related News Yes Stellantis: the economic bombshell that Aragón expected E. MontañésRight next to the fence of the already huge automobile plant that has been producing cars in series for 43 years, with the Opel Corsa as the first witness of that manufacturing activity, “there is an amount of land, of consolidated urban land (property of right of use of Stellantis) that they do not have anywhere else in Europe” for the construction of the battery factory lithium iron phosphate (LFP) announced this week. The words are from Luis Bertol, mayor of Figueruelas, who although he knew “for quite some time” that the most important economic ‘bombshell’ of the last decade in Aragon was going to fall, has managed to handle it discreetly until bursting with euphoria this past 10 of December. For the regional president Jorge Azcón, the megafactory “anchors” the possibilities of the community. The verb that Bertol likes the most is that this early gift from the Three Wise Men “supports the future” of the Ribera Alta del Ebro and, therefore, of the province and region where it will be located – “if you want, tomorrow” , he congratulates himself. It will begin production before 2027, according to plans. Bertol speaks with ABC from his 100% electric Peugeot 2008, leading by example of what he believes in: the future is the car without combustion, although right now its price has not yet reached the pockets of ordinary mortals. As Romeral explained, the batteries that the multinational Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited in Zaragoza will manufacture are “40% of the entire electric car”, it is the “heart” of a less polluting vehicle that pumps at the pace of the times. Between 700,000 and one million electric vehicles a year could be born in Figueruelas thanks to the landing of the Asian company, the undisputed owner and mistress of the LFP battery market. One million square meters The two companies that participate 50% each in the project have highlighted that the reasons why Zaragoza has seduced them to install their factory are “the availability of renewable energy and water” in spades, the strategic location of Figueruelas in the Gordian knot of communications in Spain and southern Europe, and the location on mammoth lands of one million square meters, already predicted by those who attracted the General factory in 1981 Motors, “providing the facility with sufficient space for an eventual expansion,” Azcón highlighted. The automotive sector represents a turnover of almost 12,000 million euros per year in this community, feeds 35,000 families directly and represents 6% of the regional Gross Domestic Product. The new factory would employ 3,000 more people. Stellantis, for its part, moves 300 companies in the area. According to the mayor, “they never talk about what the Figueruelas plant represents for the service sector and thousands of other jobs, from tool makers to qualified technical professions.” All of these families have gone through very bad times with a very changing market. «We have had our soul in suspense. The arrival of CATL means peace of mind,” says Bertol. And Aragón has become a land of opportunities for the motor giants. But not alone. The fever to invest in the community has also given Inditex, Blackstone, Dascher, Kepar Electrónica, Tronchetti (Foxy), Box2Bit… The world’s largest technology companies have not escaped the charms of this land either. Data storage centers have found their match here: water, renewable energy and soil are their main power sources, in addition to a very powerful network of suppliers. Aragon culminates this 2024 a historic year with 40,000 million announcements in business investments that has a lot to do with technology and its first swords: Microsoft has projected three availability zones in the Recycling Technology Park, La Muela and Villamayor de Gállego, all in the province of Zaragoza, which add up to a global amount of 6.6 billion euros and almost a thousand direct jobs. The arrival of Amazon Web Services (AWS), for its part, showered Aragon with more zeros. 17.5 billion until 2033. The cloud services division of the Seattle giant has just celebrated its second anniversary in the community and is already talking about an indissoluble bond. With its engineers and computer scientists, the productive fabric was also transformed on the part of autonomy. “Dozens of quality jobs have been created such as operations manager, electrical engineers, sustainability supervisors, hardware technicians, logistics experts, security operators…”, the company tells this newspaper. As a curiosity, biomedical experts are also being sought. Education adapts. Currently, AWS is building three large data centers (Cloud region) in Villanueva de Gállego, El Burgo de Ebro, both in Zaragoza, and in the city of Huesca. From here Telefónica, BBVA, the Instituto de Empresa, Adif and Insud Pharma, among others, are executing their workloads. The company also reports to this newspaper the impact on the auxiliary industry and local SMEs that are seeing their businesses take off thanks to AWS. They put names and surnames to the example: the Aragonese Levitec, specialized in electrical installations, telecommunications, air conditioning and photovoltaic projects, which has seen its client portfolio diversify due to its collaboration in data centers; Hiberus, which has increased the team that provides services to AWS technological solutions by 200 people, exceeding 3,000 employees; DWX Technology, which expanded its workforce in Zaragoza to over 1,500 professionals; or Seidor, which opened its first competence center specialized in AWS ‘cloud’ solutions. The metamorphosis due to the landing of world technology greats has been not only economic, but also socialBut the metamorphosis due to the landing of world technology greats has gone much further. It has completely changed the educational and social landscape. We find an example at the University of Zaragoza. The expansion of 200 new entry places this year has been the logical step. It is encouraged that there be more mathematicians and computer engineers, above all, and the degrees are focused on the new type of jobs required. In this way, they assure from the University, “they are aligned in increasing flexibility so that university training increasingly adapts to the needs of the market.” «The old concepts no longer work – highlighted the rector José Antonio Mayoral – and every day the demand for training related to computing is greater. “We must adapt to the changing circumstances of a society, which in terms of training, is increasingly liquid.” The returning talentAt AWS, where they sponsor projects and training spaces in STEAM subjects (science, technology, mathematics and engineering; the ‘A’ is for art) and promote digital campuses to train new and future employees in these new skills, they are observing Furthermore, “a driving effect when it comes to retaining and returning talent to the Aragonese lands.” In this they agree with the University students themselves. Mario L., recently graduated in Computer Engineering, “was thinking” about going to Toulouse (France), where there is an important group of skilled engineers. “All my friends work there or in Germany,” he says, where the working conditions, salary and quality of life “have always been better than in Spain,” although now “there are options to stay here,” he glimpses. MORE INFORMATION news No The construction of the new Romareda will extend from February 2025 to June 2027 with a saving of 14 million news No This is the restaurant in Zaragoza with the cheapest menu: three courses for only €9.90 news No Azcón: «Aragón does not want to talk about debt forgiveness, but about depopulation» An example of those returned brains are José Calvo, an industrial engineer trained at the Higher Polytechnic Center of Zaragoza and a worker in one of the data centers in Aragón. He emigrated to the United Kingdom and the United States. A year ago he returned with his family: his wife was signed by Amazon and he was signed by AWS. And Cynthia Peña, industrial engineer in the automotive sector. He returned from Germany a couple of years ago to lead one of the AWS teams as manager. They believe that Aragon has become strong in the first economic division and summarize the social transformation with simplicity: “You are nowhere like home.”
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