At a glance
Goodman and IREN are two of the five companies most requested for one-on-one investor meetings at Citi's Australia and New Zealand investment conference in Sydney on 20 and 21 October 2026, the AFR's Chanticleer column reported on 15 October.
ASX-listed operators NEXTDC, Macquarie Technology and DigiCo rent out data centre capacity, and Infratil owns 49.69% of CDC.
Data centres make up 78% of Goodman's A$19.7 billion of projects under construction, and Stockland holds two NSW data centre consents at Macquarie Park.
SKS Technologies earned A$207.7 million from data centre work in FY26 and Southern Cross Electrical A$120 million, which it forecasts to triple in FY27.
BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Sandfire sell copper, and BHP projected in 2024 that copper use in data centres would rise sixfold by 2050.
Investors at Citi's Australia and New Zealand investment conference in Sydney on 20 and 21 October 2026 want one-on-one meetings with Goodman, IREN, property groups Charter Hall and GPT, and over-55s estates developer GemLife more than with any other companies, the AFR's Chanticleer column reported on 15 October. Goodman and IREN both develop data centres, though IREN's shares trade on Nasdaq rather than the ASX.
"The biggest focus is on the AI trade," Paul Buys, who runs Citi's Australian equities research team, told the AFR. "There's an AI infrastructure dynamic."
Wealthy families and pension funds are after the same exposure. Citi's 2026 survey found 80% of Asia Pacific family offices named AI as a main focus for new direct deals, and Australia's super funds have reached the sector through unlisted stakes, among them the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation's stake in CDC and AustralianSuper's A$4.7 billion in Vantage Data Centers EMEA and US operator DataBank.
On the ASX, that exposure sits with data centre operators such as NEXTDC, developers such as Goodman, electrical contractors such as SKS Technologies and copper miners such as BHP.
ASX-listed operators rent out data centre capacity
Company (ticker) | What it owns | How it earns |
|---|---|---|
NEXTDC (NXT) | Data centres, 740.1MW contracted | Rent and power charges, 175MW billing |
Macquarie Technology (MAQ) | Data centres in Sydney and Canberra, plus cloud and security services | Rent and service fees |
DigiCo Infrastructure REIT (DGT) | Data centres in Australia and the US | Rent, paid out as distributions |
Infratil (IFT) | 49.69% of CDC | Its share of CDC's earnings |
Source: Company results and ASX filings, June to October 2026
NEXTDC reported 175MW billing at 30 June 2026 and 740.1MW contracted, a pro forma figure that includes contracts announced on 21 July, and expects 197MW more to start billing during FY27. It has guided capital spending of A$5.25 billion to A$5.75 billion for FY27 to build the capacity customers have signed for, set out in its FY26 result.
Macquarie Technology runs data centres in Sydney and Canberra alongside its cloud and cyber security business. It reported A$390 million of revenue in its FY26 result. To expand, it has paid A$254 million for a second Macquarie Park site, where it proposes a 200MW campus.
DigiCo, managed by ASX-listed HMC Capital, is selling three of its five US data centres to fund taking its Sydney site to 88MW. Its first 20MW in Sydney is built, with the next 10MW due online at the end of FY27.
Infratil, listed in New Zealand and on the ASX, owns 49.69% of CDC. CDC had 550MW operating, 810MW under construction and 1.1GW contracted at 30 September 2026, Infratil reported on 6 October.
SCX.ai and DUG Technology sell AI computing on the ASX
SCX.ai listed on the ASX under the ticker SCX in August 2026 after a A$40 million float, iTBrief reported. It sells inference, the computing used to answer queries on trained AI models, from SambaNova chips at Equinix's SY5 data centre in Sydney. The other ASX-listed name is Perth's DUG Technology (DUG), which holds government funding for a high-performance computing campus at Geraldton.
IREN, Sharon AI and Firmus, three AI computing companies building in Australia, are not listed on the ASX. IREN, founded in Sydney, is planning an 800MW campus at Bundey in South Australia and a 900MW campus near Wagga Wagga. Sharon AI is also listed on Nasdaq, as SHAZ. Firmus withdrew its ASX float on 9 October 2026 and is raising money privately.
Data centres are 78% of Goodman's A$19.7 billion under construction
Company (ticker) | Data centre activity | How it earns |
|---|---|---|
Goodman Group (GMG) | 0.7GW built and held, 3.6GW of power secured | Developing data centres and leasing them to customers, alone or with partners |
Stockland (SGP) | Two consents at Macquarie Park, EdgeConneX partnership | Developing and owning sites |
Centuria Capital Group (CNI) | 50% of AI computing company ResetData | Its share of ResetData's earnings |
Source: Company results and ASX filings; NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure; DCD
Data centres made up 78% of Goodman's A$19.7 billion of projects under construction at 30 June 2026, according to its FY26 result. Goodman has 3.6GW of power secured for data centres and another 2.8GW in advanced procurement. The data centres it has delivered and still owns or controls, directly or through its partnerships, provide 0.7GW, and Goodman leases them to the customers that run them.
NSW has approved two Stockland data centres at 1-5 Khartoum Road, Macquarie Park, the first in March 2026 and the second, the Road 1 Data Centre, on 1 October 2026 with its total power capped at 49MW. Stockland finalised a 50:50 partnership with US data centre operator EdgeConneX in March 2026 to develop, own and operate Australian data centres, starting with a project of more than 100MW at its MPark Stage 2 site in Macquarie Park, DCD reported.
Centuria reaches AI computing through Centuria Capital Group, which owns half of ResetData, a GPU operator in a Centuria office tower in Melbourne's Docklands. Its listed industrial fund, Centuria Industrial REIT (CIP), proposed a 38MW data centre on the Telstra-occupied Clayton campus it owns, which Monash City Council refused on 29 September 2026.
SKS Technologies earned A$207.7 million from data centres in FY26
Company (ticker) | Data centre work | Disclosed figure |
|---|---|---|
SKS Technologies (SKS) | Electrical and technology fit-outs | A$207.7m FY26 data centre revenue |
Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (SXE) | Electrical work and switchboards | A$120m FY26 data centre revenue |
Maas Group (MGH) | Electrical fit-outs for Firmus, through JLE | About A$1.1bn of work orders |
GenusPlus Group (GNP) | Koolunga battery, firming Firmus's power | A$110m contract |
Source: Company results and ASX filings, Energy-Storage.news
SKS Technologies lifted its data centre revenue 47.6% to A$207.7 million in FY26, about 60% of its A$347.9 million total. Data centre jobs made up 87% of its tenders. It reported in its FY26 result on 18 August 2026 that it had won its largest contract, A$210 million to design and build for a hyperscale data centre in Melbourne.
Southern Cross Electrical Engineering said in its FY26 result on 19 August 2026 that it earned A$120 million from data centres in the year and forecasts that figure to triple in FY27. It worked inside ten data centres owned by six hyperscale cloud providers during the year, and its current projects include NEXTDC's S4 at Horsley Park and S3 at Artarmon, and DigiCo's SYD1.
Dubbo's Maas Group owns 3.2% of Firmus, and its electrical contractor JLE has received about A$1.1 billion of work orders from Firmus across FY26 and FY27, Maas said in an ASX announcement on 9 October 2026 after Firmus withdrew its float.
Firmus's power supply also brings work to GenusPlus, which won a A$110 million contract in April 2026 to build the 200MW Koolunga battery in South Australia. The battery's output is contracted to energy trader Gunvor, which signed a 12-year deal to supply firmed power to Firmus's AI factories.
BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Sandfire sell copper
BHP (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO), Sandfire Resources (SFR) and Glencore (GLC) are ASX-listed copper producers. Data centres use copper throughout their power systems and cabling.
BHP projected in 2024 that copper used in data centres would rise sixfold by 2050, from about half a million tonnes to about three million tonnes a year. Its analysis of copper demand, which uses data current to September 2024, also has global copper demand growing by about 70% to more than 50 million tonnes, and data centres using 9% of the world's electricity by 2050, up from about 2%.
Glencore joined the ASX on 14 October 2026 through a foreign exempt listing under the code GLC, keeping its primary listing in London. In the Pilbara, NEXTDC's Port Hedland data centre was developed in partnership with BHP, Vocus and Microsoft.
What to watch
The Firmus private round. Its size and backers will decide the pace of Firmus's Australian build, and with it the A$1.1 billion of work orders Maas Group's JLE has received.
NEXTDC's FY27 billing. 197MW is due to start billing during FY27, which is when those signed contracts start paying rent.
The contractors' half-year results in February 2027. Southern Cross Electrical's forecast tripling of data centre revenue and SKS Technologies' tender book will show how much of the build pipeline is turning into paid work.