Demand is not the problem. Delivery is.

Australia is at a pivotal moment in the development of data centres—an asset class that constitutes essential national infrastructure, underpinning our future economic growth and digital sovereignty.

The scale of opportunity can't be overestimated. Global data centre investment is projected to reach US$4 trillion by 2030, growing at an 18% compound annual rate.¹ Capital expenditure exceeded US$770 billion in 2025,² rivalling peak investment in the oil and gas sector. Australia was ranked the second-largest data centre investment destination globally in 2024, attracting US$6.7 billion—trailing only the United States.³ Domestically, the pipeline has expanded rapidly, reaching approximately 14.8GW of capacity across more than 300 assets, with growth of around 65% in less than a year.⁴

Capital is willing. Global interest is strong. Demand is not the problem. Certainty of delivery is the problem.

Delays in grid connections, fragmented planning frameworks, construction complexity and growing community engagement pressures are compounding across the system. The core issue is process: Australia's regulatory, energy and infrastructure settings were not designed for the speed, scale and integration that modern data centre development requires.

Without coordinated reform, Australia risks falling behind competing markets, despite its strong fundamentals. We may squander one of the decade's most important infrastructure opportunities.

Unlocking the next wave of investment requires a shift from fragmented, project-by-project decision-making to better coordinated, system-wide enablement. The five priorities are:

• grid access certainty—faster, more transparent and prioritised connection pathways;
• energy and data centre alignment—long-term supply coordination, to reduce execution risk;
• planning reform—frameworks that recognise data centres as essential infrastructure;
• delivery capacity—coordinating delivery, and addressing construction and supply chain constraints at scale; and
• ESG integration and social licence—proactive governance, to protect project viability and deliver community support.

Small increases in certainty will unlock even greater flows of capital. With the right coordination, Australia can move from a constrained, reactive model to having a globally competitive platform for digital infrastructure investment.