More than $18 billion worth of data centre projects are under construction across Australia, tripling figures from the year before.
Just six years ago, the category ranked 14th out of 15 distinct building types.
A year ago it ranked fourth, and now, in 2026, it’s the number one type of construction happening across the country, outstripping offices, warehouses, and every commercial building type.
“The sheer scale of construction already committed, and the slow pace at which it converts to completed buildings, means the pipeline will dominate commercial construction activity for years,” said Robert Beerworth, Managing Director of Primera Research.
“That pipeline carries direct consequences for electricity grids, land use and public infrastructure planning in the two states absorbing most of it. The electricity demand behind these buildings is growing fast enough that government, business and households will all feel the effects, whether or not they have any connection to the industry.”
Dave Green, founder of Green.com.au, the company behind the research – based on ABS Building Data – said the scale of the build was an indicator that any electricity-intensive industry has consequences.
“Government, business and the public all have to think about what supplying an industry like this does to the grid,” Green said.
“Businesses and households that generate their own power are in a stronger position, but the cost of keeping the grid reliable for everyone else is increasingly a question for government and the wider economy.”
That cost is very much on the mind of many at the moment, particularly with the Australian government suggesting that growing data centre builds will not impact household energy bills. According to one academic, simply saying “It won’t cost” is essential, but not nearly enough on its own.
"Making data centres pay their own way is necessary, but that should be the bare minimum. Communities that host nationally significant infrastructure should share in the rewards,” Dr Say Yen Teoh, of RMIT’s School of Accounting, Information Systems, and Supply Chain, said this week.
“Keeping extra costs off electricity bills does not address the burdens that are local; land taken out of other uses, construction disruption, competition for water resources, and grid capacity that might otherwise support housing or industry.
“Other countries are beginning to move beyond the 'do no harm' approach. In London and Germany, data centre waste heat is being incorporated into local heating networks. They illustrate an important principle – data centres can create public value, not just private profit.”
Even Amazon – widely recognised as being far more interested in its bottom line than supporting its workforce – recognises this, Dr Yeoh contends.
"In the US, tech companies like Amazon offer education and workforce pathways. They are voluntary, company-designed and revocable. That is philanthropy, not partnership,” she said.
"In Australia wind farms increasingly share benefits with neighbours through payments and community funds. A hyperscale data centre should not be held to a lower standard than a wind turbine.
"The test is simple. In five years, a resident should be able to point to something tangible and positive that exists because the data centre does.
"‘Not worse off’ should be where Australia starts, not where it settles."
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