Data study ·
AI reaches 4.1% of Spanish industrial SMEs
Original title, in Spanish: “La IA alcanza al 4,1% de las pymes industriales españolas”
- Publication
- La Ecuación Digital (Spain)
- Author
- Unsigned
- Published on
- 2 October 2026 · read in the date shown on the page
Summary
According to the IndesIA Barometer 2026, based on a sample of 131,554 companies, only 4.1% of Spanish industrial SMEs use artificial intelligence, compared with 2.1% in 2024 and 2.9% in 2025. Adoption varies by size: 6.5% for medium-sized companies (50–250 employees), 5.1% for small ones (10–50 employees) and 3.6% for micro-businesses. Madrid (6.3%), Catalonia (4.9%) and the Basque Country (4.2%) lead geographically. Public investment in AI reached €4.609 billion in 2025 (+0.5%), with no automatic correlation with regional adoption. Generative AI and the automation of decision flows are gaining ground over machine learning. At the 5th IndesIA Forum, speakers stressed the need to move from experimentation to effective application and to strengthen human verification in the face of automation bias.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on La Ecuación Digital →Figures cited
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4.1 %
share of Spanish industrial SMEs using AI in 2026
Spanish industrial SMEs, sample of 131,554 companies, 2026
« Solo el 4,1% de las pymes industriales españolas utiliza inteligencia artificial »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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2.1 %
share of Spanish industrial SMEs using AI in 2024
Spanish industrial SMEs, 2024
« pasó del 2,1% en 2024 al 2,9% en 2025 y alcanzó el 4,1% en 2026 »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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2.9 %
share of Spanish industrial SMEs using AI in 2025
Spanish industrial SMEs, 2025
« pasó del 2,1% en 2024 al 2,9% en 2025 y alcanzó el 4,1% en 2026 »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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6.5 %
AI adoption in medium-sized companies (50–250 employees)
medium-sized industrial companies, Spain
« La implantación alcanza el 6,5% entre las compañías medianas, aquellas que tienen entre 50 y 250 empleados. »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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5.1 %
AI adoption in small companies (10–50 employees)
small industrial companies, Spain
« Desciende al 5,1% en las pequeñas empresas de entre 10 y 50 trabajadores »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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3.6 %
AI adoption in micro-businesses (fewer than 10 employees)
industrial micro-businesses, Spain
« queda en el 3,6% entre las microempresas con menos de diez empleados »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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6.3 %
AI adoption in the Community of Madrid
industrial SMEs, Madrid
« La Comunidad de Madrid encabeza el uso de IA entre las pymes analizadas, con un 6,3% »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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4.9 %
AI adoption in Catalonia
industrial SMEs, Catalonia
« seguida de Cataluña, con un 4,9% »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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4.2 %
AI adoption in the Basque Country
industrial SMEs, Basque Country
« y el País Vasco, con un 4,2% »
Source: Barómetro IndesIA 2026
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4,609 EUR million
public investment in AI in Spain in 2025
Spain, 2025
« La inversión pública en inteligencia artificial alcanzó los 4.609 millones de euros en 2025, un 0,5% más que el año anterior. »
Classification
- Country
- Spain
- Company size
- Micro-businesses, SMEs
- Industries
- Industry and manufacturing
- Companies
- IndesIA (study author), Gestamp (cited)
- Keywords
- industrial SMEs, AI adoption, spain, public investment, barometer, generative AI
Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to La Ecuación Digital. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.