--- title: "AI's leap in Spain: 60.5% of companies already include it in their strategy, but only 17.3% achieve a high return on investment — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "60.5% of Spanish companies include generative AI in their strategy, but only 17.3% achieve a high ROI, according to SAS/IDC." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/ai-s-leap-in-spain-60-5-of-companies-already-include-it-in-their-b7f4f5/" lang: "en" --- [Marsanne Studio](https://marsanne.studio/en/) [← Back to home](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) [← The AI watch](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) Data study · 29 September 2026 # AI's leap in Spain: 60.5% of companies already include it in their strategy, but only 17.3% achieve a high return on investment Original title, in Spanish: “El salto de la IA en España: el 60,5% de empresas ya la integra en su estrategia pero solo el 17,3% logra un...” **Publication** Europa Press (Spain) **Author** Unsigned **Published on** 29 September 2026 · read in the page structured data ## Summary According to the second edition of the report 'Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust', produced by SAS on the basis of an IDC survey, 60.5% of Spanish companies already include generative AI in their strategy, the highest rate in Europe, but only 17.3% achieve a high return on investment and 37% improve their EBIT. 88% of proofs of concept fail before reaching production. Spain's AI impact index has fallen from 61 to 53.1 points. Employees ignore AI recommendations in 35.1% of cases, owing to a lack of explainability. Only 18.5% of companies require data quality as a mandatory criterion. Jorge Zafra, marketing director of SAS Iberia, refers to a "healthy pause". 79% of companies plan to increase their AI budget next year. Summary based on the full text of the article. [Read the article on Europa Press →](https://www.europapress.es/portaltic/empresas/noticia-salto-ia-espana-605-empresas-ya-integra-estrategia-solo-173-logra-roi-alto-20260929131400.html) ## Figures cited - 60.5 % share of Spanish companies including generative AI in their strategy Spain > « con un 60,5 por ciento de compañías que las integran en su estrategia » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 17.3 % share of Spanish companies achieving a high ROI on AI Spain > « solo el 17,3 por ciento logra un retorno de inversión (ROI) alto » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 80 % share of employees reporting significant time savings thanks to AI Spain, employees > « el 80 por ciento de los empleados aseguran obtener importantes ahorros de tiempo en sus rutinas diarias gracias a la IA » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 37 % share of companies improving their operating profit (EBIT) thanks to AI Spain > « Solo el 37 por ciento logra mejorar su beneficio operativo o EBIT » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 88 % share of AI proofs of concept that fail before going into production Spain > « el 88 por ciento de las pruebas de concepto de IA fracasa en su paso a producción » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 53.1 points AI impact index in Spain, current edition Spain > « el índice del impacto de la IA en España ha descendido hasta los 53,1 puntos, frente a los 61 del año anterior » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 61 points AI impact index in Spain, previous edition Spain, previous year > « el índice del impacto de la IA en España ha descendido hasta los 53,1 puntos, frente a los 61 del año anterior » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 35.1 % share of cases in which professionals ignore AI recommendations Spain > « los profesionales deciden ignorar las recomendaciones de la IA en un 35,1 por ciento de los casos » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 43.2 % share of Spanish companies managing data quality in isolation Spain > « un 43,2 por ciento de las empresas españolas gestiona la calidad de sus datos de forma aislada » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 18.5 % share of companies requiring data quality as a mandatory criterion on all projects Spain > « apenas un 18,5 por ciento lo exige como requisito obligatorio en todos sus proyectos » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 15 x increased likelihood of achieving a solid ROI with reliable AI governance worldwide > « las empresas que son capaces de aplicar prácticas de IA confiable y gobernanza tienen quince veces más probabilidades de obtener un ROI sólido » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) - 79 % share of Spanish companies planning to increase their AI budget next year Spain > « el 79 por ciento de las compañías prevé incrementar su presupuesto en inteligencia artificial durante el próximo año » Source: Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust (SAS/IDC) ## Classification **Country** Spain **Company size** All sizes **Industries** All industries, or industry not specified **Companies** SAS (study author), IDC (study author) **Keywords** return on investment, data governance, generative artificial intelligence, AI adoption, productivity 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 Europa Press. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.