호주는 AI 투자 급증에 힘입어 1,550억 달러 규모의 데이터센터 붐이 예상되며, 이는 현지 부동산 시장을 근본적으로 재편하고 있다.
Experts say Australia is ideally positioned for a multibillion-dollar data centre boom, backed by abundant developable land, a strong trajectory toward renewable energy, a resilient economy, and a stable political environment. Aware Super chief executive Deanne Stewart told the AFR Commercial Property Summit on Monday that if constraints such as grid connections, planning approvals, high construction costs, and site selection can be resolved swiftly, the economic rewards could be unprecedented.
“At the moment, we’re seeing the amount of capital flowing to invest in data companies worldwide reach US$750 billion, which is extraordinary,” she said. “Some say that could be over US$1 trillion next year. It’s certainly impacting markets globally, delivering returns of more than 20 per cent per annum. For Australia, this presents a significant opportunity to capitalize on the incoming investment.”
Australia is currently the second-largest destination for data centre investment globally after the United States. A Westpac IQ report previously estimated this investment at more than $155 billion, potentially generating a net GDP boost of approximately $75 billion, plus additional economic spillover, and creating up to 400,000 jobs.
“Australia has many advantages,” Stewart told the summit’s audience of industry leaders. “We have significant strengths in terms of land, renewables, and security. While power availability and grid connections remain constraints on growth, they are not deterring investors. What matters most is consistency—consistency and consistency—in government policy and adopting a long-term perspective.”
The scale of this investment promises substantial benefits for regional Australia as data centres increasingly relocate away from city centres. This shift is largely driven by community opposition to urban developments, a trend observed both domestically and internationally.
“Over the last 15 years, land was certainly more readily available than it is today,” said Tim Robinson, senior director of real estate for APAC at Equinix. “However, there has been a major shift toward land shortages. It is also becoming increasingly challenging from a power perspective, requiring significantly more due diligence. Land costs are now a major consideration for us, and we expect facilities to gradually migrate outward, away from metropolitan fringes.”
A prime example is IREN’s $10 billion, 800-megawatt data centre currently under construction in Bundey, South Australia, located two hours outside Adelaide. The facility is leveraging existing local electricity substations, transmission lines, and regional renewable energy sources.
“By Australian standards, it is a substantial project—though not as massive as developments in Texas, Oklahoma, or Canada—but we are finding communities highly supportive of our work,” said Boris Dangubic, vice president of commercial operations at IREN. “Local stakeholders clearly understand the benefits. Our engagement with the South Australian government has been excellent, and they strongly support our strategy. They recognize the job creation, positive economic impact, and tax revenue these projects generate.” Consequently, IREN plans to develop additional projects in regional South Australia and is currently in discussions with other state governments.
Data centre investment in Australia is projected to continue its upward trajectory, though construction timelines remain a significant hurdle. Meg Redwin, executive director and global general counsel at Multiplex, noted that data centres are extraordinarily complex operations that require flexible and innovative construction approaches. “They’re being constantly adapted—storeys are taken off or put on, cooling systems are changed, or we switch to recyclable water,” she said. “It is a highly dynamic sector.”
Ensuring these facilities remain viable as 30-year assets throughout their lifecycle presents another challenge, particularly given that microchip technology evolves every quarter, said David Hirst, chief executive of Macquarie Data Centres. “In the future, chips will demand more energy, but they will also become increasingly efficient over time,” he said. “We are now constructing significantly larger data centres to capitalize on the expanding opportunities within the digital economy.”
Site selection also prioritizes redundancy, with operators typically preferring to locate two facilities within 25 kilometres of each other to mitigate downtime risks. Macquarie Data Centres, for example, has planned a new 200-megawatt, $3 billion facility in Macquarie Park, Sydney. “However, the servers and computing hardware installed inside are worth five times that construction cost, meaning $15 billion in equipment sits on-site,” he said. “That represents a massive capital requirement.”
Regional areas are well-positioned to capture a share of the AI-driven economic dividend. Regions are likely to welcome data centre developments even more enthusiastically when they deliver tangible local economic benefits. Equinix, for instance, has invested $3 billion in a wind farm located 60 kilometres northwest of Geelong, Victoria, to directly power its data centres.
“This approach is becoming increasingly common,” Robinson said. “There is far greater transparency regarding renewable energy sourcing, and we are fully committed to operating on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.”
Although the majority of AI computing capacity generated by Australian data centres will ultimately be exported overseas, the economic benefits for surrounding communities will continue to accumulate. Dangubic highlighted the Bundey project as a landmark development. “It is a $10 billion infrastructure project situated near a town of just 250 residents,” he said. “It will generate substantial rates and tax revenue for the region, alongside valuable upskilling opportunities for local workers. We have witnessed this exact dynamic play out in the United States, and we are now experiencing an exceptionally positive boom across our own regional areas.”