Australia launches $52 billion AI infrastructure push amid soaring global AI capex

Australia is positioning itself as the Asia‑Pacific hub for artificial‑intelligence compute, targeting about A$52 billion (≈US$34 billion) in digital‑infrastructure spending by 2030. Data‑centre capacity is projected to rise from 1,350 MW in 2024 to roughly 3,100 MW by 2030, attracting more than $26 billion of new investment. Local operators such as NextDC, which has a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI, Macquarie Technology, Goodman Group and Megaport are among the first‑wave beneficiaries, while contractors like Southern Cross Electrical Engineering and copper suppliers such as BHP see growing demand for power‑intensive builds.

In parallel, US AI firm Anthropic has issued a request for proposals worth $21.6 billion to secure 1.4 GW of Australian data‑centre capacity, with CDC Data Centres, AirTrunk, NextDC, Iren and Stack among the shortlisted partners. The deal could reshape share prices of these providers and expand local AI‑related jobs.

Industry analysts also warn that AI capital‑expenditure is entering a multi‑year investment cycle, driven by cloud‑AI shifts at companies like Apple and a surge of specialist AI startups. This broader surge reinforces the urgency of Australia’s infrastructure drive, as global AI workloads are expected to double power consumption by 2030.