Anthropic Signs First Australian Data Center Lease, Securing 2.16 GW Capacity

Anthropic has signed its first data center lease in Australia with Singapore-based data center developer Zerra DC, according to Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter. The project, located about 250 kilometers west of Brisbane, Queensland, is planned for 2.16 gigawatts of capacity, a scale close to that of the world's largest data centers. It is expected to come online in phases starting in 2027 and remains subject to approval by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board.

The facility will primarily support AI inference, providing real-time compute for user requests after models are trained, rather than model training. Zerra DC will procure renewable energy power purchase agreements and cover grid connection costs without passing them on to existing users. The data center will use a closed-loop air cooling system designed to reduce clean water consumption for server cooling.

The deal makes Anthropic another major AI company building infrastructure in Australia, following OpenAI's earlier moves. Economists project data center-related investment in Australia could reach A$150 billion by 2030. The Australian government plans to impose further restrictions on data center resource use from 2027 while continuing to attract foreign investment in the sector.