The prevailing investment narrative around artificial intelligence often steers investors offshore, focusing on chipmakers and hyperscalers. However, this perspective is increasingly seen as narrow and incomplete. AI’s true scale depends heavily on a massive physical infrastructure build-out, encompassing data centres, power grids, and cooling systems. Australia is emerging as a critical, yet often underestimated, player in this global transformation. The International Energy Agency projects global data centre electricity consumption to more than double by 2030, a trend mirrored locally. Australia’s deployable data centre capacity is forecast to surge from 1350 megawatts in 2024 to 3100 megawatts by 2030, attracting over $26 billion in new investment.
This significant investment is driving opportunities for a range of Australian companies. First-round beneficiaries include infrastructure owners and developers central to the build-out. NextDC, a data centre operator, provides co-location services and compute environments, and has inked a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI for sovereign AI infrastructure. Macquarie Technology, a provider of data centre, cloud, and telecommunications services, is developing its IC3 Super West facility specifically for AI and cloud workloads. Goodman Group, a global property group, is increasingly a data centre infrastructure developer, boasting a global data centre power bank of 6.4 gigawatts. Additionally, Megaport, a global network as a service provider, offers crucial cloud interconnection supporting data movement.
Beyond these direct infrastructure players, a second wave of “picks-and-shovels” companies are poised to benefit. Businesses such as Southern Cross Electrical Engineering, an electrical and instrumentation contractor, and GenusPlus, an infrastructure and energy services provider, are deeply exposed to the physical construction through high-voltage cabling, switchboards, and power distribution systems. Perhaps the most underappreciated Australian exposure lies in resources, particularly copper. AI data centres are extraordinarily power-intensive, making copper an essential component across grids, transformers, and internal cabling. BHP estimates global data centre copper usage could grow six-fold by 2050. Australia, as a major supplier of these critical inputs, is uniquely positioned to leverage this escalating demand, underscoring that AI investment increasingly flows into physical infrastructure.
