Anthropic building first data center in Australia for $31.9B
What's the story
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind the Claude language model, has signed a deal for its first Australian data center in western Queensland. The proposed facility, called the Western Downs Digital Park, will be developed by Singapore-based Zerra DC. It will be located near Dalby and connect with the existing Braemar power station. The project is expected to open next year and will be worth a reported $31.9 billion.
Economic impact
More jobs, energy to Queensland's grid: Premier Crisafulli
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli announced the investment in parliament, saying it was a major win for the state.
He said he had met with Anthropic during a recent trade mission and explained why Queensland was an ideal place to invest due to its energy security and streamlined approval process.
The Premier also emphasized that this investment would create more jobs and add more energy to Queensland's grid.
Policy position
Queensland government secured exemption to use coal generators
In July, Queensland and the Northern Territory rejected a Commonwealth push to mandate new AI centers to run on renewable energy.
The state government claims it has secured an exemption from a national deal that would allow it to use coal generators for these facilities.
Premier Crisafulli said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a "commonsense decision" to let Queensland decide its own power supply strategy.
Sustainability measures
Data center will use renewable power purchase agreements
The Australian lease for Anthropic is for a data center planned by Singapore-based developer Zerra DC.
It will use renewable power purchase agreements and pay grid connection costs without passing them on to existing customers.
The facility would be used for inference or rapid prediction-based processing, but not training.
It will also employ a closed-loop air-cooled system that minimizes clean water consumption while removing heat from servers.