# 07 — Demand side: AI adoption in Spanish businesses

_Last updated: 2026-04-15._

## A. AI adoption Spain — 5 cleanest stats

- **21.1%** of Spanish firms (10+ employees) used AI in Q1 2025 — **+8.7 pp YoY**. [INE, 22 Oct 2025](https://www.ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/ETICCE20241T2025.htm)
- **25.7%** AI adoption in Services sector (highest of all macro-sectors), Q1 2025. [INE, 22 Oct 2025](https://www.ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/ETICCE20241T2025.htm)
- **~50%** of firms with **250+ employees** use AI in 2024 (+11 pp vs 3 yrs ago). [ONTSI *Indicadores de uso de IA en España 2024*, Apr 2025](https://www.ontsi.es/sites/ontsi/files/2025-04/indicadores-de-uso-de-ia-en-espana.pdf)
- **Spain: 9.2% enterprise AI adoption in 2023 vs 8.0% EU average**, growing **9.3%/yr (~4× EU pace)**. [EC *Digital Decade Spain Country Report 2024*, 2 Jul 2024](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/spain-2024-digital-decade-country-report)
- **PYMEs: 2.9% AI usage 2025 vs 2.13% 2024 (+36.2% YoY)** across 68k-firm sample. [IndesIA *Barómetro adopción IA en PYMEs 2025*](https://www.indesia.org/indesia-publica-el-informe-barometro-de-adopcion-de-la-ia-en-las-pymes-espanolas-2025/)
- Bonus: **70% of Spanish firms report measurable profit gains from AI**, 77% productivity. [EY *II Barómetro Europeo IA*, Jul 2025](https://www.ey.com/es_es/newsroom/2025/07/ii-barometro-europeo-de-ia-de-ey)

## B. Sectors buying most AI services

Ranked (ONTSI 2024 + INE Q1 2025 cross-check):
1. **Information & Communications — 46.6%** (ONTSI 2024).
2. **ICT sub-sector — 45.0%** (ONTSI 2024).
3. **Scientific & Technical Activities — 26.1%** (ONTSI 2024).
4. **Services (aggregate) — 25.7%** (INE Q1 2025).
5. **Financial Services — >30% digitalised**, leading "mature" sector for AI spend. [Adigital/BCG 2025](https://www.adigital.org/economia-digital-en-espana-2025/)
6. **Public Administration** — biggest YoY AI jump, NextGen-driven (Adigital 2025).
7. **Industry / Manufacturing** — laggard on base, fastest PYME growth (IndesIA, +36% YoY 2025; Repsol, Navantia, Airbus consortium).

## C. Hiring signals — Q1 2026

Spain is projected to create **52,000+ AI-related jobs in 2026**; Q1 2026 already saw **14,000+ active listings** aggregated across LinkedIn, InfoJobs, Tecnoempleo. [Javadex/ONTSI cross-compilation 2026](https://www.javadex.es/blog/empleos-ia-espana-nuevos-puestos-mercado-laboral-2026)

Top hiring sectors (share of AI/ML offers Q1 2026): **Banking/Finance 22% · Consulting 19% · Telecom 12%**.

Top employers posting AI/ML roles (frequency-ranked, exact per-company counts not public):
1. **BBVA** — AI Engineers, LLM, data scientists (largest AI lab in ES banking)
2. **Santander** — ML Engineers, MLOps
3. **CaixaBank** — Data/AI transformation
4. **Telefónica / Telefónica Tech** — platform + client-facing consultants
5. **Indra / Minsait** — AI consulting
6. **Accenture Spain** — largest AI consulting bench
7. **Deloitte / EY / KPMG / PwC Spain** — GenAI transformation
8. **Repsol** — industrial AI (IndesIA)
9. **NTT Data (ex-everis)**
10. **Capgemini Spain**

LinkedIn: 3,000+ active ML roles nationwide. InfoJobs: ~100–200 per major employer.
Senior ML Engineer salary band: **€55–85k** (Javadex 2026). LLM/AI Engineer postings **+340% vs 2024**.

## D. PYME pain points (2025–2026)

1. **Skills shortage** — only **1.94%** of Spanish university degrees are AI-related. [IndesIA 2025](https://www.indesia.org/indesia-publica-el-informe-barometro-de-adopcion-de-la-ia-en-las-pymes-espanolas-2025/)
2. **High implementation cost** — #1 cited barrier. [Banco de España EBAE Q2 2025](https://www.bde.es/f/webbe/SES/Secciones/Publicaciones/InformesBoletinesRevistas/BoletinEconomico/25/T2/Files/be2502-art06e.pdf)
3. **Data quality / availability** — PYMEs lack clean datasets (Banco de España EBAE Q2 2025).
4. **Training unmet** — **78% of Spanish workers want AI training**, SMEs rarely provide it. [ONTSI/Red.es 30 Apr 2025](https://www.red.es/es/actualidad/noticias/informe-uso-ia-espa%C3%B1a-2024)
5. **Regional divide** — Madrid 30% firm adoption / 4.2% PYME vs nat'l avg 2.9%. [CAM 3 Nov 2025](https://www.comunidad.madrid/noticias/2025/11/03/comunidad-madrid-lidera-uso-inteligencia-artificial-espana-30-empresas-utilizando-tecnologia)
6. **Cloud under-adoption** — 27.2% vs EU 38.9% (DESI 2024). Limits AI deployment readiness.

## E. Grant money in the pipeline

- **Kit Digital:** total budget **€3,067M** NextGenEU. AI solutions now in catalog. Unexecuted funds **reinvested** through and beyond 2026 (Orden TDF/39/2026). ([Plan de Recuperación](https://planderecuperacion.gob.es/noticias/conoce-programa-kit-consulting-servicios-asesoramiento-digital-prtr))
- **Kit Consulting:** **€300M** NextGenEU, for 10–249 empl firms. Grants **€12k / €18k / €24k** by firm size. AI Advisory is one of three priority categories.
- **Combined pipeline: €3.367B**, AI explicitly named in both programs.
- **March 2026:** Government announced additional **€40M plan** for SME AI use-case democratization (MTDFP).

Disbursement %: not found in public sources as of April 2026 — but regulatory reinvestment rule implies sub-100% execution (pot still substantial).

## F. 5 data-backed pitch angles for a new agency

1. **"From 21% to 50%: catch the mid-market wave."** Large firms already ~50% adopted; mid-market (50–249) is fastest-closing gap with €24k Kit Consulting vouchers still on table.
2. **"Banking + Consulting = 41% of AI hiring demand."** Position as white-label ML delivery arm for tier-2 banks and boutique consultancies that can't staff fast enough.
3. **"Kit Consulting fulfilment partner."** €300M envelope, AI Advisory pre-funded — register as advisor, bill the state.
4. **"Close the training gap."** 78% of workers want AI training; only 1.94% of degrees cover it. Productized GenAI enablement for pyme workforces is an open lane.
5. **"Regional arbitrage."** Madrid hits 30% firm AI adoption; rest of Spain trails badly. Near-shore delivery to Valencia, Andalucía, Galicia, Aragón — lower competition, same funding.

## Sources
INE · ONTSI · EC Digital Decade · Banco de España · IndesIA · EY · Adigital/BCG · AMETIC · Javadex · Plan de Recuperación · CAM · DESI.