Who is the largest data centre operator in Australia?

AirTrunk is the largest data centre operator in Australia by live capacity, with more than 1.2GW operating across five campuses in Sydney and Melbourne. Measured on raw megawatts, no domestic operator is close. Certified Strategic’s 2026 ranking places NEXTDC first overall, because the ranking weights federal Certified Strategic certification, contracted capacity and deliverability alongside scale, and NEXTDC leads on that combined view while AirTrunk leads on size alone.

How are Australia’s top data centre operators ranked?

Certified Strategic ranks operators on four weighted measures: operational scale at 30%, federal Certified Strategic certification at 30%, deliverability at 20%, and first-half 2026 momentum at 20%. Certification status is read from the federal Hosting Certification Framework register rather than operator claims. The ranking reflects the state of the market at June 2026, with momentum measured from January, and every company-level score carries a right of reply before publication.

Which Australian data centre operators have the strongest momentum in 2026?

NEXTDC, CDC, GreenSquareDC and Goodman show the strongest first-half momentum among certified and established operators, through contracted capacity, funded expansions and, for the listed names, share-price movement. Among the emerging neoclouds, Firmus, IREN and Sharon AI are scaling fastest on disclosed capital and capacity. These neoclouds sell AI compute rather than certified colocation, so they sit in a separate emerging tier rather than the numbered operator ranking.

Top data centres in Australia 2026: NEXTDC leads the pack

Australia’s data centre market has moved to the centre of the global AI build-out. Hyperscalers are committing tens of billions to new capacity, GPU-first neoclouds are scaling on the ASX and Nasdaq, and the race for AI-ready compute has turned power and land into the industry’s scarcest inputs.

The first half of 2026 brought a run of headline moves. NEXTDC opened KL1 in Kuala Lumpur and carried a forward order book past 540MW. AirTrunk pushed further into Asia under Blackstone. Microsoft and AWS expanded their Australian commitments. And a generation of AI-infrastructure names, Sharon AI and IREN among them, scaled on public markets while Firmus lined up a float of its own.

We track that market as it moves: the capital, the campuses, the contracts and the power deals. This is how we see the operators and players leading it in 2026.

NEXTDC leads it.

<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:100%;text-size-adjust:100%;max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;background:#fff;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:14px;padding:22px 24px 24px;font-family:Inter,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0b1d3a"><p style="display:inline-block;margin:0;font-size:10.5px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#0c447c;background:#e6f1fb;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:100px">Australia data centre index</p><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:22px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.2;color:#0b1d3a">Top data centre operators in Australia, 2026</p><p style="margin:6px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.45;color:#6b7a90">Ranked on operational scale, certification, deliverability and first-half momentum.</p><div style="display:flex;height:3px;margin-top:16px;border-radius:3px;overflow:hidden"><span style="display:block;width:50%;background:#0b1d3a"></span><span style="display:block;width:50%;background:#ef9f27"></span></div><ol style="list-style:none;margin:6px 0 0;padding:0"><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #0b1d3a;background:#f5f9ff;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;display:flex;justify-content:center"><span style="width:30px;height:30px;border-radius:50%;background:#f59e0b;color:#fff;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center">1</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">NEXTDC</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">ASX:NXT</span><span style="font-size:10.5px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.03em;color:#854f0b;background:#faeeda;padding:2px 8px;border-radius:100px">Leads</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">667MW contracted, 544MW order book</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>A$8.4bn liquidity; KL1 opens in Kuala Lumpur</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #0b1d3a;background:#f5f9ff;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;display:flex;justify-content:center"><span style="width:30px;height:30px;border-radius:50%;background:#0b1d3a;color:#fff;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center">2</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">AirTrunk</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">Blackstone</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">1.2GW+ live across five campuses</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>India and Johor expansion</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #0b1d3a;background:#f5f9ff;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;display:flex;justify-content:center"><span style="width:30px;height:30px;border-radius:50%;background:#0b1d3a;color:#fff;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center">3</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">CDC</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">Future Fund, Infratil</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">268MW live, 265MW under construction</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>Pursuing a reported record Melbourne land deal</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">4</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">Equinix</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">NASDAQ:EQIX</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">Sydney, Melbourne, Perth interconnection</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>Steady AI-adjacent capacity growth</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">5</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">Macquarie Data Centres</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">ASX:MAQ</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">IC3 Super West, 47MW, mid-2026</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>A$200m NRFC backing; NVIDIA AI Factory build</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">6</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">DigiCo</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">ASX:DGT</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">76MW installed, 13-asset portfolio</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>41MW contracted; SYD1 88MW expansion</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">7</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">Digital Realty</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">NYSE:DLR</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">PlatformDIGITAL, Sydney and Melbourne</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>Hyperscale and enterprise additions</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">8</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">DCI Data Centers</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">Private</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">Sovereign-focused Sydney capacity</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>Continued sovereign and enterprise lease-up</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-bottom:1px solid #edf2f7;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">9</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">GreenSquareDC</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">Partners Group</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">SYD1 Stage 1 (15MW) under construction</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>SYD1 Stage 2 (96MW) endorsed; A$1.2bn backing</p></div></li><li style="display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:flex-start;padding:9px 14px;border-left:4px solid #e2e8f0;list-style:none"><div style="flex:none;width:30px;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:#94a3b8;line-height:30px">10</span></div><div style="flex:1;min-width:0"><div style="display:flex;align-items:baseline;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px"><span style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">Goodman</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8">ASX:GMG</span></div><p style="margin:7px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#334155">6.4GW global power bank (3.6GW secured)</p><p style="margin:5px 0 0;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;color:#854f0b"><span style="display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background:#ef9f27;margin-right:7px;vertical-align:middle"></span>About A$14bn of data centre work in progress</p></div></li></ol></div>

The operators, ranked

1. NEXTDC

NEXTDC scores at or near the top on every measure at once. It holds twelve Certified Strategic enclaves spanning every mainland capital, runs 667MW of contracted utilisation against a 544MW forward order book, and sits on A$8.4 billion of liquidity. The opening of KL1 in Kuala Lumpur on 14 May 2026 also pushed that order book into a second country. NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) shares are up around 14% in 2026, among the strongest runs of any listed Australian operator.

2. AirTrunk

AirTrunk is the scale leader, with more than 1.2GW live across five campuses in Sydney and Melbourne and Certified Strategic Facility status at SYD1, SYD2 and MEL1. Owned by Blackstone since its 2024 acquisition, it builds hyperscale-by-design for a small set of the world’s largest cloud customers. The Sydney-founded platform is the only Australian operator in the 2026 Data Centre Magazine's M&A Top 10: Blackstone’s US$16 billion (A$24 billion) take-private, still the largest data centre deal in Asia-Pacific history, and AirTrunk’s own April 2026 purchase of India’s Lumina CloudInfra, which pushed the platform past 3GW across six markets.

3. CDC

CDC holds twelve Certified Strategic facilities, the deepest footprint in the framework’s higher sub-tier, with 268MW operational and another 265MW under construction behind long-term government contracts. Backed by the Future Fund and Infratil, it has built its business on security-cleared, sovereign-grade capacity for the public sector. CDC is reported by Green Street News to be chasing what would be Melbourne’s largest data centre land deal, a move that would carry that footprint into Victoria. CDC itself is unlisted, though its parent Infratil (ASX:IFT) has climbed roughly 30% across 2026.

4. Equinix

Equinix is the only operator on the list to hold both Certified Strategic sub-tiers, with CA1 as a facility and ten enclaves across Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Its strength is interconnection density, the cross-connect fabric that makes its sites the meeting point for carriers, clouds and enterprises across the country.

5. Macquarie Data Centres

Macquarie Data Centres spans both certification tiers and is building a sovereign NVIDIA AI Factory inside its 47MW IC3 Super West facility, due to energise mid-2026. The build is underwritten by a government-backed A$200 million NRFC deal, positioning Macquarie as a sovereign host for private and neocloud AI.

6. DigiCo

DigiCo brings ASX-listed REIT scale through HMC, with 76MW installed across a 13-asset portfolio and 41MW contracted by mid-2026. An 88MW expansion at SYD1 is under way, extending its Sydney capacity into the AI-demand cycle. DigiCo (ASX:DGT) has staged a strong share price recovery in 2026, climbing roughly 50% from its March low near A$1.74 to about A$2.62 by late May.

7. Digital Realty

Digital Realty contributes four Certified Strategic enclaves across Sydney and Melbourne and the reach of its global PlatformDIGITAL portfolio. Its Australian sites connect local enterprises and hyperscalers into one of the largest interconnected data centre platforms in the world.

8. DCI Data Centers

DCI Data Centers holds its SYD-01 enclave certification and runs sovereign-focused capacity in Sydney for government and enterprise customers. It remains privately held and continues to lease up against steady sovereign demand.

9. GreenSquareDC

GreenSquareDC makes the list on first-half momentum. Its SYD1 Stage 2 was endorsed at 96MW for Western Sydney, Stage 1 at 15MW is under construction, and the project carries A$1.2 billion of Partners Group backing.

10. Goodman

Goodman makes the list on the scale of what it is bringing to grid: a 6.4GW global data centre power bank, 3.6GW of it secured, and about A$14 billion of data centre work in progress. A developer and landlord rather than a colocation operator, it is converting industrial land and secured power into the capacity the next cycle will need.

The emerging tier: the neoclouds to watch

<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:100%;text-size-adjust:100%;max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;font-family:Inter,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Arial,sans-serif"><div style="display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:12px"><div style="flex:1 1 calc(50% - 6px);min-width:240px;background:#fff;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-top:3px solid #f59e0b;border-radius:10px;padding:14px 16px"><div><span style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">Firmus</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8;margin-left:6px">NVIDIA · Coatue · Blackstone</span></div><p style="margin:8px 0 0;font-size:12.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#334155">Project Southgate, 1.6GW pipeline across five states</p><span style="display:inline-block;margin-top:10px;font-size:10.5px;font-weight:600;letter-spacing:.03em;color:#0c447c;background:#e6f1fb;padding:3px 9px;border-radius:20px">Vertically integrated</span></div><div style="flex:1 1 calc(50% - 6px);min-width:240px;background:#fff;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-top:3px solid #f59e0b;border-radius:10px;padding:14px 16px"><div><span style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">IREN</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8;margin-left:6px">NASDAQ:IREN</span></div><p style="margin:8px 0 0;font-size:12.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#334155">800MW Bundey campus, South Australia</p><span style="display:inline-block;margin-top:10px;font-size:10.5px;font-weight:600;letter-spacing:.03em;color:#0c447c;background:#e6f1fb;padding:3px 9px;border-radius:20px">Vertically integrated</span></div><div style="flex:1 1 calc(50% - 6px);min-width:240px;background:#fff;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-top:3px solid #f59e0b;border-radius:10px;padding:14px 16px"><div><span style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">Sharon AI</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8;margin-left:6px">Nasdaq:SHAZ</span></div><p style="margin:8px 0 0;font-size:12.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#334155">US$2.2bn contracts, hosted on NEXTDC</p><span style="display:inline-block;margin-top:10px;font-size:10.5px;font-weight:600;letter-spacing:.03em;color:#0c447c;background:#e6f1fb;padding:3px 9px;border-radius:20px">Asset-light</span></div><div style="flex:1 1 calc(50% - 6px);min-width:240px;background:#fff;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-top:3px solid #f59e0b;border-radius:10px;padding:14px 16px"><div><span style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;color:#0b1d3a">ResetData</span><span style="font-size:11.5px;font-weight:500;color:#94a3b8;margin-left:6px">Centuria Capital</span></div><p style="margin:8px 0 0;font-size:12.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#334155">AI-F1 immersion-cooled AI supercomputer, Melbourne</p><span style="display:inline-block;margin-top:10px;font-size:10.5px;font-weight:600;letter-spacing:.03em;color:#0c447c;background:#e6f1fb;padding:3px 9px;border-radius:20px">Immersion-cooled</span></div></div></div>

Four neoclouds sit just outside the operator ranking: Firmus, IREN, Sharon AI and ResetData. They are built differently from the ten operators above, selling artificial intelligence compute by the contract rather than certified floor space by the megawatt. Their customers are AI developers training and running large models, not the government agencies that drive demand for Certified Strategic hosting, so federal certification sits outside their model.

The makeup differs too. A colocation operator owns the building, the power and the cooling and leases certified capacity. A neocloud owns or leases the GPUs and sells the compute, often running that fleet inside someone else’s facility. Sharon AI is the clearest case, asset-light on NEXTDC, while Firmus and IREN own their sites and build gigawatt-scale capacity of their own. NVIDIA sits at the centre of each story, and our neocloud market report tracks the class as it moved from concept to capital deployment fast. The one to watch is the first to bring gigawatt-scale Australian capacity online under its own control, the point it becomes an operator in its own right.

What to watch

Four developments will move this ranking before the next update. CDC’s Melbourne land deal needs confirmation of site, price and capacity. Macquarie Data Centres’ IC3 Super West is due to energise mid-2026. GreenSquareDC’s SYD1 Stage 1 is scheduled to come online in the third quarter. Firmus is expected to test the ASX, a step that would put a neocloud’s deliverability on public display.