Anthropic Signs First Data Centre Lease Deal In Australia

AI company Anthropic has signed its first data centre lease agreement in Australia, according to people familiar with the matter, taking advantage of favorable government policy and abundant renewable energy resources to secure capacity at one of the world’s largest planned computing facilities.

Massive Planned Capacity Near Brisbane

The lease covers a data centre campus with planned capacity of 2.16 gigawatts, comparable to some of the largest facilities operating globally. The site sits on farmland roughly 250 kilometers from Brisbane and is expected to begin coming online in 2027. The facility will reportedly be used for inference, meaning rapid prediction-based processing, rather than for training AI models, and will rely on a closed loop, air-cooled system designed to reduce water use for server cooling.

Part Of A Wider AI Investment Push In Australia

The deal follows a similar agreement OpenAI struck for a Sydney data centre last year, as AI companies increasingly look to Australia as a lower cost, renewable energy rich alternative to more congested markets in the U.S. and Asia. Economists estimate total AI-related investment in Australia could reach roughly $107 billion by 2030.

The Australian government has said it will introduce restrictions starting in 2027 on data centre resource use, following community concerns over land, water and electricity consumption, even as it continues courting large-scale investment. The planned facility is being developed by a Singapore based developer, which would source renewable power purchase agreements and cover grid connection costs.