technology
Data centres expand in Australia and globally
Australia hosts 166 data centres with capacity expected to double by 2030. Microsoft has pledged $25 billion and Amazon $20 billion in new Australian investment. Global spending by four major technology firms is projected to exceed one trillion dollars this year.
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Data centres operated by companies including Equinix house servers that process online transactions, video streams, and artificial intelligence workloads. The facilities require large amounts of electricity and water for cooling.
Global investment scale Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft plan to spend more than one trillion dollars on AI infrastructure this year after already committing 200 billion dollars in the first quarter. The United States contains about 5,400 data centres, Europe 3,400, and China several thousand more.
SoftBank has announced plans to invest 170 billion dollars in French data centres, one of which would consume as much power as New York City. Similar projects are underway in India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and several African countries.
Australian projects and capacity Australia currently operates 166 data centres.
New investment in 2024 ranked second only to the United States. Capacity is forecast to at least double by 2030. Microsoft has committed 25 billion dollars to Australian data centres over three years. Amazon earlier pledged 20 billion dollars. A proposed site 30 kilometres north-west of Melbourne would occupy 350 hectares if completed.
Singapore-based Firmus is constructing two sites in Tasmania described as a two-billion-dollar AI factory containing 26,208 chips across 364 racks.
Energy and community considerations Data centre operators cite Australia’s renewable energy resources and construction workforce as competitive advantages. Industry representatives note that demand for digital services continues to increase. Some local planning disputes have arisen over proposed sites.
