Australia's Data Centre Market in 2026

Australia now ranks fifth globally and second in the Asia Pacific region for data centre capacity, behind only the United States, China, the United Kingdom and Germany.​

Mandala Partners' report Data Centres as Enabling Infrastructure forecasts that Australia's deployable data centre capacity will more than double from 1,350MW in 2024 to 3,100MW by 2030, requiring more than AUD $26 billion in new infrastructure investment. CBRE's August 2025 research, AI Adoption Drives Australia's Data Centre Investment and Demand, projects live capacity will grow from approximately 1.4GW in 2025 to around 1.8GW by 2028, while estimated demand will outpace supply by 0.7 to 1.7GW in the same period. CBRE estimates the total investable universe of the Australian data centre sector will reach approximately AUD $46 billion by 2028.

The primary demand driver is the structural shift toward AI workloads, reflected across hyperscaler commitments, sovereign cloud programmes and enterprise AI adoption nationally. This shift is visible at the facility level: NEXTDC and OpenAI have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a 550MW hyperscale AI campus and GPU supercluster at NEXTDC's S7 site in Eastern Creek, Sydney, valued at AUD $7 billion, with Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, Canva and Virgin Australia as confirmed anchor clients. It is one of several large-scale AI infrastructure commitments now in motion across the country, alongside CDC's 504MW Marsden Park campus and NEXTDC's AUD $2 billion M4 Melbourne development approval

What Is an HCF-Certified Data Centre?

The Australian Government's Hosting Certification Framework (HCF), administered by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), certifies data centres at two levels: Certified Strategic and Certified Assured. Certified Strategic is the highest designation, required for sensitive and PROTECTED government workloads under the Whole-of-Government Hosting Strategy.

As of February 2026, there are 59 Certified Strategic Facilities and Enclaves across Australia operated by 14 providers. These are the facilities tracked and indexed by CertifiedStrategic.com.​

Top Data Centre Operators in Australia

NEXTDC

NEXTDC is Australia's most geographically distributed certified data centre operator, with 13 HCF-certified Strategic sites across Sydney (S1, S2, S3), Melbourne (M1, M2, M3), Canberra (C1), Brisbane (B1, B2), Perth (P1, P2), Adelaide (A1) and Darwin (D1). It is the only operator with a certified presence in every mainland capital city plus Darwin. S3 in Sydney, M2 and M3 in Melbourne are all 20 to 100MW enclaves. A1 Adelaide and D1 Darwin are the only HCF-certified facilities in those capitals.​​

In January 2026, NEXTDC received Victorian Government development approval for its M4 campus at Fishermans Bend in Port Melbourne: a 162MW, AUD $2 billion facility designed for AI, defence and sovereign technology workloads, with rack densities exceeding 1,000kW and direct-to-chip liquid cooling. NEXTDC is ASX-listed (NXT) and is a confirmed anchor customer on the SUBCO SMAP hypercable system.

CDC Data Centres

CDC Data Centres operates 12 HCF-certified sites, the largest portfolio by site count in Australia. Nine sites are in Canberra across the Fyshwick (F1, F2) and Hume (H1 to H5) precincts, four in Sydney at Eastern Creek (EC1 to EC4) and one in Melbourne at Brooklyn.​

CDC broke ground on a 504MW campus at Marsden Park in Sydney's north-west in October 2024 following NSW planning approval in November 2025. It will be the largest data centre campus in the Southern Hemisphere when complete. In Melbourne, CDC commenced construction of a 150MW Laverton campus in early 2025, a AUD $2.7 billion investment. CDC is a confirmed SMAP anchor operator.

Equinix

Equinix holds 11 HCF-Certified Strategic Enclaves and one Strategic Facility across Sydney (SY3 to SY7), Melbourne (ME1, ME2, ME4), Canberra (CA1) and Perth (PE2, PE3). Its certified Sydney and Melbourne enclaves sit adjacent to its International Business Exchange facilities, which host cloud on-ramps for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud in Australia. Equinix is a confirmed SMAP anchor operator, with Perth and Sydney certified sites on the new east-west connectivity spine from March 2026.​

AirTrunk

AirTrunk operates three HCF-certified Strategic Facilities: SYD1 at Huntingwood, SYD2 at Lane Cove and MEL1 at Derrimut, all in the 20 to 100MW band. Its facilities are purpose-built for hyperscale and AI workloads. AirTrunk is a confirmed SMAP anchor operator and is majority-owned by Blackstone.​

Macquarie Technology Group

Macquarie Technology Group operates five HCF-Certified Strategic sites: Strategic Enclaves IC1, IC2 and IC3 in Sydney, and Strategic Facilities IC4 and IC5 at Fairbairn in Canberra. Its IC3 Super West facility at Macquarie Park is a purpose-built AI-ready certified data centre with direct-to-chip liquid cooling. Macquarie operates both a certified physical facility and an HCF-certified Sovereign Cloud service, making it the only vertically integrated certified sovereign stack in Australia. ASX-listed (MAQ).​

Digital Realty

Digital Realty operates four HCF-Certified Strategic Enclaves: SYD10, SYD11 and SYD14 at Erskine Park in Western Sydney, and MEL11 at Deer Park in Melbourne, all in the 20 to 100MW band. Its sites operate as neutral carrier and hyperscale colocation hubs with global PlatformDIGITAL connectivity. NYSE-listed (DLR).​

DCI Data Centers

DCI Data Centers operates a single HCF-certified Strategic Enclave: SYD-01 at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney, in the 20 to 100MW band. It is one of the largest single certified sites in Australia by power band and is positioned in the primary Western Sydney data centre corridor.​

Telstra

Telstra holds two HCF-certified sites: the Deakin Strategic Enclave in Canberra (2.5 to 20MW) and the St Leonards Strategic Enclave in Sydney (below 5MW). ASX-listed (TLS).​

Australian Data Centres, iSeek, Springfield City Group, Fujitsu Australia, HMC DigiCo, Cloud Carrier

The remaining certified operators each hold between one and two certified sites. Australian Data Centres holds two Canberra sites (ADC Fyshwick and ADC Mitchell), the only non-CDC and non-NEXTDC certified presence in the ACT. iSeek (LDR2, Brisbane) and Springfield City Group (Polaris, Brisbane) are the only certified operators in Queensland outside NEXTDC. Fujitsu Australia holds two Sydney enclaves; HMC DigiCo (ASX: DGT) and Cloud Carrier each hold one NSW certified site.​

Certified Strategic Data Centres by City

City

Certified Sites

Key Operators

Sydney

24

NEXTDC, CDC, Equinix, AirTrunk, Digital Realty, Macquarie, DCI, Telstra, Fujitsu, HMC DigiCo, Cloud Carrier

Canberra

14

CDC, NEXTDC, Macquarie Technology, Equinix, Telstra, Australian Data Centres

Melbourne

9

NEXTDC, CDC, AirTrunk, Digital Realty, Equinix

Brisbane

4

NEXTDC, iSeek, Springfield City Group

Perth

4

NEXTDC, Equinix

Adelaide

1

NEXTDC

Darwin

1

NEXTDC

Source: Hosting Certification Framework, CertifiedStrategic.com directory, February 2026.​

Major Developments: 2025 to 2026

NEXTDC M4, Melbourne. Development approval received January 2026. 162MW campus at Fishermans Bend, AUD $2 billion, AI-ready with liquid cooling.

CDC Marsden Park, Sydney. NSW planning approval November 2025, groundbreaking October 2024. 504MW, six buildings, largest data centre campus in the Southern Hemisphere when complete.

CDC Laverton, Melbourne. Construction commenced early 2025. 150MW, AUD $2.7 billion.​

NEXTDC S7 and OpenAI AI Campus, Sydney. 550MW hyperscale AI campus and GPU supercluster under development at Eastern Creek via NEXTDC and OpenAI MOU. AUD $7 billion. Confirmed anchor clients include Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, Canva and Virgin Australia.

SUBCO SMAP Hypercable. First services on the Perth-Adelaide-Melbourne segment delivered March 2026. Full system commissioning May 2026. 400Tb-plus capacity across 16 fibre pairs. NEXTDC, CDC, Equinix and AirTrunk are confirmed anchor data centre operators.

Key Research and Reports

The following reports provide the primary market data underpinning Australia's data centre capacity and demand forecasts:

Published March 4, 2026
Analysis written by Certified Strategic Editorial Team

CertifiedStrategic.com  - Australia's independent data centre index tracking capacity, certification and market news across the country's critical infrastructure providers.