Anthropic is putting down roots in Australia. Bloomberg reports that the AI company plans to invest in Australian data centers to expand its capacity.
The first concrete step is a lease at the proposed Western Downs Digital Park in Queensland. It was confirmed in the state parliament on September 16, 2026, and it is a sizable commitment.
What Anthropic actually signed
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude large language model, has signed its first data center lease in the country. The site sits near the towns of Dalby and Kogan in Queensland’s Western Downs region.
The lease covers the campus’s initial phase. The broader project is led by Zerra DC, a Singapore-based developer. Its partners are Australian Data Centres, which is controlled by Dexus, and Macquarie Capital.
The full campus could eventually support 1.44 GW of IT capacity, with peak power consumption of 2.16 GW. That capacity would be spread across four buildings, each rated at 360 MW, on a 725-hectare site.
The projected total investment for the campus is between A$31.9 billion and A$32 billion. The project aims to become Australia’s largest data center. A development application for a preliminary phase has already been filed.
Operations are targeted to begin in 2027.
Built for answering questions, not learning them
The facility will focus mainly on inference workloads, not model training. Training is when a model like Claude learns from massive amounts of data. Inference is the model putting that education to work, answering prompts and handling tasks for actual users.
The design choices lean toward reducing the environmental footprint. The campus will use closed-loop air cooling and renewable power purchase agreements, known as PPAs. The developer will also cover the cost of connecting to the grid.
How the deal came together
Anthropic and the Australian government signed a memorandum of understanding in April 2026, which began formal engagement under the country’s National AI Plan.
In July 2026, confidential tenders reportedly showed interest in securing at least 1.4 GW of total capacity.
The arrangement also includes collaboration with Australia’s AI Safety Institute on evaluations.
The deal still requires approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, or FIRB. Until that sign-off arrives, the project remains contingent.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.