Independent analysis of Australia's data centre and AI infrastructure market, published from Sydney and updated as the market moves.
Parliament's AI committee wants a national policy to encourage data centre investment and government buying steered to Australian AI firms, with security conditions on labs.
· Policy & Regulation
Meta, NEC and Sumitomo Electric will build Petal, a 1,000Tbps US to France cable on two-core fibre, due in 2029. Australian cable company SUBCO plans three 24-pair cables for 2029, with supply contracts due by early 2027.
· Capacity & Expansion
EonFibre, One New Zealand's fibre business, launched Zone Direct on 12 October 2026 to link campuses in New Zealand's six data centre zones to Sydney over the Tasman Global Access cable it co-owns.
· Market Intelligence
Jim Chalmers and Japan's finance minister listed digital infrastructure for state lending, as AirTrunk said 224 Japanese suppliers earned over A$1.5bn from its work in FY26.
· Policy & Regulation
Goodman is looking for a tenant from early 2027 at the Eastern Creek warehouse earmarked for its A$5bn Project Atlas, as it waits on a Transgrid connection date.
· Operator Updates
The Queensland data centre map shows operating and planned sites from Brisbane to Kogan against the high-voltage grid, with a source on every record.
· Market Intelligence
Firmus has pulled the largest ASX float since Telstra. Its Tasmanian AI factories, Dubbo builder Maas Group and two subsea cables are all tied to its next raise.
· AI Infrastructure
Firmus has pulled its A$7.9 billion ASX float and is in talks with NVIDIA and other backers on a private round to fund its AI factories in Australia and Asia.
· Market Intelligence
AirTrunk is putting a further US$1bn into its Inzai campus near Tokyo for AI workloads and plans to lift its Japan investment to as much as US$30bn within five years.
· Operator Updates
Firmus's ASX IPO is heading to about A$8.25 a share, down from A$11, as US funds held back. That would still value the AI factory builder at about A$33B.
· Market Intelligence
CDC's proposed 576MW Hume Campus 3 data centre in Canberra needs a full environmental impact statement, the ACT Conservator has ruled, citing 30 large trees on the site.
· Operator Updates
Macquarie Capital has invested in Zerra DC, the Singapore developer of the Western Downs campus leased to Anthropic. AGP stays majority owner and terms were not disclosed.
· Market Intelligence
Firmus was due to list on 23 October in what would have been the ASX's second-largest float. A working map places it among 86 companies across Australia's data centre industry.
· Market Intelligence
Firmus was set to be the ASX's second-largest float after Telstra. It was due to list on 23 October valued at about A$43.7 billion, what Telstra was worth in 1997, seven years after it started mining bitcoin in Launceston.
· Market Intelligence
Zerra DC has posted 17 senior jobs to build its Queensland campus near Dalby, where Anthropic has signed a lease. Most data centre jobs remain in Sydney and Melbourne.
· Jobs & Workforce
A six-year-old NVIDIA A100 server now resells for US$84,000, up 20 per cent in a year, as Australian AI companies start borrowing against their GPUs.
· AI Infrastructure
Sydney Water's A$1.2 billion Kemps Creek plant will supply recycled water to Western Sydney data centres, keeping cooling off the drinking supply, with operators paying their way.
· Policy & Regulation
NSW approved Microsoft's 96MW Huntingwood data centre with NSW renewables matched to demand at all times, a month after Microsoft asked senators to count earlier deals.
· Capacity & Expansion
Telstra says an unnamed AI customer has signed a contract on its Aura fibre that is "multiples of the Google deal". About 9,000km of the 14,000km is built.
· Market Intelligence
Stockland's A$630 million, 49MW Road 1 Data Centre at Macquarie Park won NSW consent on 1 October 2026, with renewable supply and efficiency reporting conditions from the August 2026 NSW data centre guidelines.
· Capacity & Expansion
CDC will not build the 1.6GW AI rollout it agreed with Firmus in 2025. Firmus keeps its Melbourne hall and builds its own sites in Tasmania, SA and Asia.
· Operator Updates
Chris Bowen wants data centres to pay their share of the grid costs they cause. The AEMC's draft is due in April 2027, and NSW intends its own rules sooner.
· Policy & Regulation
Queensland is taking data centre approvals off councils. Zerra wants the state to decide its 1.44GW Dalby campus, home to Anthropic's first Australian lease.
· Policy & Regulation
Monash council refused Centuria's A$137m, 38MW Clayton data centre on 29 September on scale and energy grounds, after planning officers recommended approval.
· Policy & Regulation
Covering New Zealand: NZ AI Infrastructure Index.