61% of Spanish companies already use AI, seven points above the European average, according to an AWS study

61% of Spanish companies have already implemented artificial intelligence solutions (AI), eleven points above last year, with a growth rate of 22%, according to the study ‘Unlocking the potential of AI in Spain in 2026’, published by Amazon Web Services (AWS) within the framework of the 11th Edition of the AWS Summit Madrid, which brought together more than 10,000 people in Madrid this Thursday.

This level keeps Spain as one of the most advanced countries in AI adoptionseven points ahead of the European average (54%). This translates into quantifiable and strategic benefits, since 81% of companies that use AI report direct productivity increasesadds the report, which also highlights the confidence that exists around this technology: “89% expect this technology to boost the growth of their business over the next year, which is why 71% already consider it a fundamental pillar of their business strategy.”

In any case, while many companies are adopting AI, There are far fewer that are implementing it in a transformative way. This suggests that much of Spain’s progress in AI remains concentrated in initial use casesrather than strategic adoption and fully integrated into the business. 64% of companies are still mainly focused on basic uses of AI, such as ‘chatbots’, and only 17% of companies claim to make advanced use of AI, for example, combining multiple models or implementing agentic AI.

TRADITIONAL COMPANIES VERSUS STARTUPS

There is also a great contrast between traditional companies and startups. Only 16% of traditional companies feel “fully or very prepared” to adopt agentic AI, compared to 74% of startups that are considered ready. Among those companies that have deployed this technology, 44% report faster decision making and execution and 35% confirm greater efficiency and operational productivity.

The main obstacles to advanced AI adoption are: navigating a fragmented regulatory landscape, with 44% of total technology spending allocated to regulatory compliance; access to qualified talentwith 58% of companies citing digital and AI skills shortages as a barrier to adoption or expansion; and lack of incentives to innovatewith 61% stating that government support is crucial or very important in their decision to adopt AI.

The report also details a trend to take into account: 42% of Spanish startups affirm that would actively consider leaving Europe in order to expand his business. The reasons are greater availability of financing (cited by 59% of respondents), followed by a greater ability to expand internationally (52%), better access to global markets (48%) and more favorable and predictable regulatory regulation (38%). These data reinforce the idea that, in an accelerated global innovation cycle, speed is key and startups will follow the path that fastest allows them to scale and grow, as the report points out.

88% OF COMPANIES USE SUPPLIERS FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS

The report also highlights that 88% of companies claim to use a mix of suppliers from different regions, rather than relying exclusively on domestic suppliers. This decision is based on access to a wider range of functions and products (54%), obtaining better scalability and performance options (51%), and the benefit of more competitive prices (46%).

Furthermore, 84% of companies say that access to global technology companies is important for AI adoption. “Only 15% agree that public investment in AI and cloud infrastructure funded and based in Europe should be a priority”adds the report.

“Spain has established itself as one of the most advanced countries in Europe in the adoption of AI,” commented Suzana Curic, general director of AWS in Iberia. “The recently announced expansion of the AWS Region in Spainwith a planned investment of 33.7 billion euros until 2035, will contribute to This adoption translates into a real large-scale transformation, providing companies across all sectors with the tools and capabilities needed to develop and deploy advanced AI solutions, with the goal of growing faster, accelerating innovation, and competing on a global scale,” he concludes.

USE CASES IN SPAIN

The Department of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands, BBVA and Mapfre are examples of how Spanish organizations are innovating through the adoption of AI. These organizations are leveraging AI to transform the experience of your customers and citizens, optimize your operations and develop new products and services, as they have detailed during the event.

“AI is no longer a promise for the future: it is a reality that is revolutionizing the way in which public administrations serve citizens,” said Juan Martínez Doreste, Deputy Minister of Equality and Diversity of the Government of the Canary Islands. “Thanks to agentic AI and Amazon Bedrock, multiple AI agents process and resolve complex administrative procedures with human supervisiondrastically reducing response times to citizens and helping to have a complete vision. AI has allowed us to reduce waiting lists by up to 65% in the last 3 years, with the aim of eliminating them this legislature, accelerating disability, dependency and Canarian income files, and increasing the resolution capacity by more than 40%,” he added.

For her part, Natalia Sampietro, Analytics Transformation Discipline Leader at BBVA, explained that AI creates real value “when it can be industrially scaled across the organization.”“. “In collaboration with AWS, we have transformed our MLOps framework to accelerate the development, validation and deployment of AI models across the Group. In pilot projects, the solution has made it possible to reduce development times between 20% and 75% and optimize infrastructure operating costs between 40% and 55%,” he adds.

Finally, Ubaldo González, Chief Data Officer at Mapfre Spain, stated that this technology is redefining the way in which they relate to their clients and design their products: “The insurance sector is experiencing a moment of unprecedented change and at Mapfre we have decided to be protagonists of that evolution. AWS has supported us in the execution of that vision through a speed that just a couple of years ago would have been unthinkable“.