What was announced
Anthropic has signed to become the anchor tenant of a large data centre campus planned near Dalby in Queensland, the state’s premier, David Crisafulli, told parliament on Wednesday. “Earlier today Anthropic signed an historic agreement for their first Australian data centre,” he said, according to AFP. AFP said Anthropic could not be reached for comment, and the company had published nothing about the deal on its own newsroom by Wednesday evening.
The project is the Western Downs Digital Park, developed by Zerra DC, the data centre arm of Singapore-based AGP Sustainable Real Assets. The ABC reported a total cost of about A$32 billion, which is private investment in the campus, not a sum Anthropic is paying. The lease is subject to approval by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.
What the site is for
According to the ABC, the centre would run inference for Claude, meaning it would answer user requests rather than train new models. Anthropic aims to start using it in 2027.
The campus sits on about 725 hectares of the former Wambo Feedlot, roughly 250 kilometres west of Brisbane. Brisbane Development, drawing on the planning material, describes four 360-megawatt buildings for 1.44 gigawatts of IT capacity, built in four stages over about four years, with Anthropic taking the first of the four data halls. The ABC puts the build at four to six years and compares its power draw to that of 1.5 million average Australian households.
Not a done deal
Zerra DC lodged its development application on 17 August. It is impact assessable and has been referred to the state’s assessment agency and to Powerlink, the grid operator. Western Downs mayor Andrew Smith told the ABC it was not yet a “done deal”.
Crisafulli called it “a major win that will deliver more jobs, put more energy into Queensland’s grid and drive down power prices”. Others are less sure. The local federal MP, David Littleproud, told the ABC that “power reliability and cost for existing homes, farmers and businesses cannot be sacrificed”. Liza Balmain of the Save Our Darling Downs group said residents were “deeply concerned” about the energy the site would use.
Why it matters
The site would be Anthropic’s first in Australia, and its scale is unusual for the state: the ABC notes the projected cost is almost five times the infrastructure budget for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. The same week, AFP noted, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he plans national minimum standards for the water and energy use of data centres.
What to watch
The Foreign Investment Review Board decision, the council assessment and public notification of the application come next. None has a published date.
