Who is Robin Khuda and why does his view on Australian AI infrastructure matter?

Robin Khuda founded AirTrunk in 2016 and built it into the Asia Pacific's largest hyperscale data centre platform before its A$24 billion acquisition by Blackstone in 2024, the largest data centre transaction globally at the time. He was named in The Australian's Top 100 Innovators list in 2025, alongside several Australian data centre leaders tracked by CertifiedStrategic.com, four of whom were also recognised in Data Centre Magazine's Top 100 Global Leaders for 2026. His first-hand engagement with the CEOs of the world's largest cloud and AI hyperscalers gives his observations on global capital flows direct, verifiable authority.

What is the current supply gap in Australia's data centre market?

CBRE forecasts Australia's live data centre capacity will grow from approximately 1.4GW in 2025 to around 1.8GW by 2028. Projected demand sits at 2.5 to 3.5GW over the same period, leaving an estimated supply gap of 0.7 to 1.7GW. Mandala Partners projects total data centre deployable capacity will more than double to 3,100MW by 2030, requiring over A$26 billion in additional investment.

What is HCF certification and why does it matter for AI infrastructure procurement?

Australia's Hosting Certification Framework (HCF) establishes verifiable security and operational standards for data centres handling government and critical infrastructure workloads. As Gartner's January 2026 warning on regional AI stack lock-in makes clear, sovereignty and security are overtaking raw scale as the primary selection criteria for AI infrastructure. HCF-certified facilities are the only independently verified sovereign-grade option in the Australian market. CertifiedStrategic.com tracks every certified facility in Australia.

Where can I follow ongoing analysis of Australia's data centre and AI infrastructure market?

CertifiedStrategic.com is Australia's independent data centre intelligence platform, publishing weekly long-form analysis of the developments that matter most to operators, investors, enterprise IT buyers, and government infrastructure stakeholders. From in-depth market analysis to certified facility tracking and AI workload resilience strategy, the site covers the intersection of capacity, certification, and connectivity that shapes real infrastructure decisions.

Australia Has a 12-to-18-Month Window to Capture Its Share of the AI Infrastructure Boom | Australia Data Centre Index

AirTrunk founder and CEO Robin Khuda published a landmark opinion piece in the AFR on March 2, 2026, drawing on two weeks of direct engagement with the world's leading cloud and AI companies. His four lessons for Australia are backed by data that the rest of the market is only beginning to absorb.

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