Anthropic signs first Australia data centre lease for 2.16 GW campus

September 16, 2026 at 08:49 AM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Anthropic signed its first data centre lease agreement in Australia for a campus with planned capacity of 2.16 gigawatts, two people familiar with the deal said. The facility, about 250 km from Brisbane, is planned to start coming online in 2027. The deal follows OpenAI's offtake agreement for a Sydney data centre last year.

Key Facts

The lease covers a data centre campus with planned capacity totalling 2.16 gigawatts, one of the people said.
The proposed facility on farmland about 250 km from Brisbane is planned to start coming online in 2027.
The deal is subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
The Australian government has promised to set restrictions from 2027 over data centre resource use.
Economists say the data centre investment boom may total A$150 billion ($107 billion) in Australia by 2030.

The Lease Deal

Anthropic signed its first data centre lease agreement in Australia, two people familiar with the deal said. The lease covers a data centre campus with planned capacity totalling 2.16 gigawatts, one of the people said. The proposed facility on farmland about 250 km from Brisbane is planned to start coming online in 2027. The deal is subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

Market Context

The deal makes Anthropic the latest AI heavyweight to secure a foothold in Australia following an offtake agreement OpenAI struck for a Sydney data centre last year. Firms are racing to lock in power and land in a country pitched as a low-cost, renewable energy-rich alternative to more congested markets in the U.S. and Asia. The Australian government has responded to community pushback over land, water and electricity use by promising to set restrictions from 2027 over data centre resource use. Economists say the investment boom may total A$150 billion ($107 billion) in Australia by 2030.

Facility Details

Anthropic's Australian lease would be for a data centre planned by Singapore-based developer Zerra DC. Zerra DC would source renewable power purchase agreements and bear grid connection costs without incurring costs to existing customers, the people said. The facility would be used for inference, or rapid, prediction-based processing, but not training, one of the people added. The site would also use a closed-loop, air-cooled system, which reduces the need for clean water when removing heat from servers, the people said.