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AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services, CDC Data Centres, Microsoft, and NEXTDC join forces on AI infrastructure investment in Australia.
A suite of companies behind massive investment in data centres to drive the AI economy has announced the creation of a new Australian peak body, Data Centres Australia, aimed at staking out the country as a “major hub” for sustainable investment and development.
“We are proudly launching Data Centres Australia, a new expert, peak body to represent the data centre sector,” Belinda Dennett, the new not-for-profit’s chief executive, said.
“Australia stands at the crossroads of a generational opportunity to transform its economy through artificial intelligence. But the opportunities are greater than just economic, with the ability to meet some of the world’s greatest challenges.”
Data Centres Australia’s launch follows an informal, two-year pilot between AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services, CDC Data Centres, Microsoft, and NEXTDC. Equinix, Goodman Group, Schneider Electric, STACK Infrastructure, and TikTok have also come on board for the launch.
“The complexity, scale and rate of innovation in the artificial intelligence era is challenging the conventional ways we have built data centres,” Dennett said.
“Bumping up against the energy transition and the global race to attract the capital, the supply chain, and the global AI workloads further complicates things. The tech stack will continue to be disrupted by new players, by new AI models, and we will see new ways of integrating compute, power and cooling.”
The industry body will work across the private and public sectors to solve issues around planning and development, workforce generation, and energy and water use.
“Our members are at the forefront of AI infrastructure development and key to Australia realising the significant opportunities on offer,” Dennett said.
“As the dedicated sector-level representative, Data Centres Australia will focus directly on the specific issues of data centre development and operations, collaborating to identify practical policy solutions that help establish Australia as a major hub for AI infrastructure investment and sustainable development.”
Dennett was previously head of government relations at AirTrunk, a position she vacated late last week.
Dr Andrew Charlton, Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy – who launched Data Centres Australia on 28 November – said that data centres were a “great opportunity for Australia”.
“They are the engines of the modern economy and can contribute to Australia’s productivity and sustainability agendas,” Charlton said.
“The establishment of Data Centres Australia is an important step forward in ensuring the sector can fulfil its potential and make a positive impact in Australia.”
You can learn more about Data Centres Australia and its goals here.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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