- The upgrades could see the IT load expanded by 41% from its original plans.
- Expansion is in preparation for artificial intelligence.
- AI expected to be a multi-billion dollar boost to the Australian economy.
Macquarie Data Centres, part of Macquarie Technology Group (ASX: MAQ), has today announced expansion plans for its IC3 Super West data centre. The upgrades could see the facility expanded by 41% from its original plans (32 MW) to 45 MW of IT load capacity.
The investment will see the data centre designed specifically to enable AI workloads.
The move follows Macquarie’s parent company, Macquarie Technology Group, successfully completing a $160 million capital raise in June, with an aim to acquire sites in Sydney to accelerate growth and support AI.
“According to CSIRO, the Australian economy could gain $315 billion by 2028 through the integration of AI,” said Macquarie Data Centres group executive, David Hirst.
“However, unlocking the full potential of AI hinges on the availability of advanced AI-ready data centres.”
David Hirst, Macquarie Data Centres group executive
“To ensure optimal performance in training and inference of these AI models, we are designing our upcoming data centres to meet and surpass the demanding requirements for higher densities.”
The facility will be able to efficiently support the high densities and multi-megawatt power requirements of new AI chip and server infrastructure. The state-of-the-art data centre will also have the cooling requirements to match, by optimising the latest in both air and liquid cooling technologies.
This new data centre will be the third edition to the provider’s Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus in Sydney’s premier North Zone. The increase in planned capacity will mean the total campus IT load could reach 63MW.
Back in mid-July 2021, the original announcement for IC3 Super West was made, with the facility then seeing an initial investment of circa $78 million. Construction was then noted to commence in the second half of 2023.
