Data centre projects surge in Melbourne, plus additional reports

An Equinix data centre in Melbourne built by FDC (image from realcommercial.com.au)

For PropertyGuru’s real estate news roundup, we focus on data centres. Melbourne is rising to challenge Sydney’s data centre market, with a new report finding nearly 75 percent of all new projects are being built in the Victorian capital. In other headlines, 1st October was the official groundbreaking ceremony for Google’s inaugural data centre at Elmina Business Park and the Google Cloud Region in Malaysia. Lastly, new data centre investments in Thailand could accelerate over the next 3-5 years.

Melbourne dominates new data centre projects as AI booms, M3 Property report finds

Melbourne is rising to challenge Sydney’s data centre market, with a new report finding nearly 75 percent of all new projects are being built in the Victorian capital.

Of the 183,000sq m of data centre projects under construction, Melbourne has the lion’s share as developers struggle to find available land and energy supply capable of powering the energy-heavy sites, according to a new report from consulting firm M3 Property.

The analysis found that over the next decade, data centres in the nation’s capital, Canberra, and the Queensland capital of Brisbane are also expected to swell in numbers, with big implications for players ranging from the Goodman Group to AirTrunk.

M3 Property national director of specialised assets James Ruben said in realcommercial.com.au that while Sydney had a stronghold on the data centre market, its growth was more coincidental than anything else. “Sydney has taken off, which is probably more luck than anything else,” Mr Ruben said. “But I would envisage that in due course, really the location of these things will probably be driven by two things; access to power and cost of land.”

Google’s Hyperscale Data Centre at Elmina Business Park breaks ground

Sime Darby Property Berhad (“Sime Darby Property” or “Group”) is pleased to be part of the official groundbreaking ceremony for Google’s inaugural data centre at Elmina Business Park and the Google Cloud Region in Malaysia, which was held as part of its ‘Mantap Malaysia Bersama AI event,’ last 1st October. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and other key officials graced the event.

Sime Darby Property will build this hyperscale data centre to Google’s customised specifications and infrastructure requirements. Then Google will operate it upon completion. This unique lease arrangement between Sime Darby Property and Google marks the first and only of its kind to date by a developer in Malaysia. Moving forward, the Group expects to roll out more projects under this business model with high-calibre clients in technology-driven manufacturing and logistics businesses, in addition to the data centre space. These initiatives will go towards further growing the Group’s SHIFT25 long-term recurring income contribution.

Gary Demasi, Google’s Global Director of Data Center Energy and Location Strategy, said in PropertyGuru Malaysia, “We are pleased to have broken ground on our first data centre and cloud region campus in Malaysia at Elmina Business Park, and we look forward to further potential collaboration with Sime Darby Property as part of our continued efforts to advance the country’s goals of boosting its digital competitiveness and establishing itself as a regional hub for AI innovation.”

Analysts see data centre investment revving up in Thailand

New data centre investments in Thailand could accelerate over the next 3-5 years as global data usage is surging, with the electronics, industrial estate, contractor, and power plant sectors set to be the major beneficiaries, say analysts in a Bangkok Post report.

Google announced its plan earlier this week to invest USD1 billion (THB32.6 billion) in data centres and cloud services in Bangkok and Chon Buri. The investment is expected to create 14,000 jobs in the country and boost Thai GDP by THB140 billion, or 0.9 percentage points in annual GDP from 2025-2029.

According to the Board of Investment (BoI), 46 projects concerning data centres and cloud services worth nearly TBH168 billion have applied for investment privileges.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].

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