Anthropic’s first local data centre agreement has put Australia’s AI infrastructure race firmly in focus, with Macquarie Capital set to partner with Singapore’s Zerra DC on a $30 billion project in Queensland.
The San Francisco-based developer of the Claude AI platform has signed a long-term lease at Western Downs Digital Park, north-west of Brisbane. The project is described as the country’s largest data centre development.
Zerra DC has also brought in Australian Data Centres, a developer controlled by ASX-listed property investor Dexus, as a project partner.
Data centre scale is measured by power use, and the agreement marks Anthropic’s first commitment since plans were revealed in July for it to buy at least 1.4 gigawatts of capacity from Australian operators.
Anthropic declined to comment, but the data centre is expected to be used for inference, including answering questions and directing AI agents to act. The article notes that this could allow the company to bypass the ongoing copyright debate over which Australian content can be used to train AI models.
The deal comes as Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei continues to call for a slower pace of AI development. Speaking at a Salesforce event in San Francisco on Tuesday, he reiterated concerns about the speed of the sector’s progress and the need for regulation.
At the same event, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said developers did not need new laws, arguing that companies should control their release pace until they were confident the market would value what they offered.
Anthropic is also preparing to list on the Nasdaq with a reported valuation of US$2 trillion, or $2.8 trillion. Its revenue projections require major infrastructure investment to train and run future AI models.
The proposed Western Downs data centre would sit on 725 hectares near Dalby, about three hours’ drive from Brisbane. The rural site, currently a feedlot for up to 24,000 cattle, was chosen for its proximity to three gas plants, a solar farm and transmission networks.
According to the development application, the first stage could be powered by gas or electricity. While the federal government wants data centres to use only renewable energy, Queensland and the Northern Territory could allow gas-powered facilities.
The project could start operating as soon as next year if it receives approval from the regional council, which is still assessing the proposal and may ask Zerra DC for more information.
The Queensland development is already controversial. Residents have told state parliament they are concerned about the project’s scale, its use of water and electricity, and its effect on the area’s rural character.
Anthropic plans to reach agreements with wind, solar and storage projects to match the site’s demand with new renewable supply. However, the facility requires consistent, around-the-clock power, which can be supplied by gas.
The same reliability issue has surfaced in Tasmania, where developer Firmus is appealing a council decision limiting its use of 276 diesel generators on a 288-megawatt project. Firmus has argued the generators are needed as backup during supply disruptions.
The Western Downs project plans to store 186,336 litres of diesel on site for 20 large generators, each around the size of a shipping container, across four data halls.
Construction is expected to require almost 1500 workers, with up to 1400 needed to operate the facility.
For Australian businesses, the project shows how AI adoption is becoming tied to physical infrastructure, energy access, regional approvals and cloud capacity, not just software capability.
SOURCE ATTRIBUTION:
Based on reporting by Jenny Wiggins for The Australian Financial Review, published Thursday 17 September 2026.
