Spanish entrepreneur Javier Romero has signed an agreement with a Chinese tech company to develop Europe’s biggest computing centre in Malaga, southern Spain.

The deal was signed in the city of Hefei on Wednesday between Romero’s ChinaLink ESGt venture capital firm and Chinese computing specialist Origin Quantum.

According to the agreement, the parties will aim to build a campus that combines supercomputing, quantum and AI computing, and cloud computing.

The two companies will also collaborate on developing quantum-resistant encryption technologies.

ChinaLink ESGt, which has made investments in Alibaba, Tencent and SpaceX, is planning to expand its existing quantum research laboratory in Malaga.

The company expects this centre eventually to need 1GW of electricity to power its hardware.

Romero commented: “China’s quantum computing development is world-leading, and we aim to bring the top quantum computing companies to Spain to create an international collaborative laboratory.”

Guo Guoping, the chief scientist at Origin, added that Spain’s exploration of quantum algorithms for healthcare, AI and other fields would offer a benchmark for the practical application of quantum technology around the world.