source : the age
Global artificial intelligence giant Anthropic has inked its first Australian data centre deal – a proposed $32 billion Queensland development.
The site in the Western Downs, about 250 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, will come online in 2027 and be used by the company’s Claude model to answer customer requests, referred to as inference, as opposed to training models, according to a source familiar with the deal but not authorised to speak publicly.
Anthropic, led by chief executive Dario Amodei, will take the entire capacity of the Western Downs Digital Park, near Dalby, through a long-term lease of the Singapore-owned Zerra DC’s proposed AI factory.
The site will connect directly to the high-voltage grid through the Braemar substation, and there will also be an on-site battery system to provide power quality and grid stability.
The company will then go to market to secure a long-term power purchase agreement, with the source stressing renewable energy capacity, likely through wind or solar, will be added to the grid.
Amodei, who this week weighed into concerns about risks posed by the technology by saying the industry needed to slow the pace of development until safety measures could catch up, is preparing to publicly list Anthropic in the US with a valuation of $US2 trillion ($2.8 trillion).
Premier David Crisafulli described the deal as a “major win” for Queensland, which is currently lagging other states in attracting booming data centre investment.
“I met with Anthropic during my recent trade mission [to the United States] to outline why Queensland was the place to invest, with energy security and a streamlined approval process,” he told parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
“To have secured Anthropic’s first major investment in Australia is a massive show of confidence in Queensland.”
Crisafulli successfully lobbied the Albanese government to give Queensland an exemption from federal Labor’s demands to force AI data centres to be exclusively fuelled by new renewable energy sources.
While Anthropic plans to bring on likely new renewable energy to the grid, planning documents say the first stage of the project could be powered by gas, with three major gas power plants within two kilometres of the proposed site.
“I also want to acknowledge the commonsense decision endorsed by the prime minister [Anthony Albanese] to allow Queensland to chart its own path for power supply,” Crisafulli added in parliament.
“But we must get it right, and it must be on our terms. It must add energy generation to the grid and drive down power prices for Queenslanders.
“It must protect local water supplies, and it must respect the communities where these centres go.
“We will take hold of the economic benefits of data centres with both hands, but we’ll do it in the right locations, and we’ll do it in the right way.”
An application for the project is currently before the Western Downs Regional Council, and comes amid national debate around data centres and AI data regulation.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics, parliament and the public sector. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.
James Hall is the News Director at the Brisbane Times. He is the former Queensland correspondent at The Australian Financial Review and has reported for a range of mastheads across the country, specialising on political and finance reporting.Connect via X or email.
