The state of Australian data centers amid the AI ​​revolution

Gavin Dudley began his IT career selling Internet services to business customers – a role that offered a front-row seat to the transformative power of emerging technology. Reflecting on those early days, he recalls a conversation that serves as a cautionary tale for businesses today that underestimate the inevitable impact AI will have on their future.

“I remember talking to a guy who owned two panel betting stores,” Dudley recalled in an interview with TechRepublic. “He said to me: ‘I will never need the internet, don’t talk to me about the internet, it will never affect my business.’ Well, I think that’s the case with AI right now and AI is going to impact every business.

said Dudley, now VP of sales at Macquarie Data Centers, an Australian data center company The AI ​​boom is only “just beginning.” He believes that AI will be deployed in significant amounts over the next 10 years. The result? The Australian market, like the rest of the world, is going to have huge data centers that need to be catered for.

What are the key trends in data center construction?

As the AI ​​boom takes hold, the demand for massive computational power is reshaping the infrastructure behind it. State-of-the-art data centers are acting as the backbone of this technological revolution.

In Australia, the need for AI processing is leading to the deployment of powerful — and hotter — GPUs in data centers. Dudley said the change in hardware has led to “fungible” data center construction, which allows operators to pivot between air and liquid cooling depending on the computing used.

“We have spent some time working in America. People who are already running real AI clusters.” Dudley said. “We’re looking at a [data centre] The architecture looks like three racks or four racks of high-performance computing, and then up to 12 racks of storage and CPUs.”

See: AI is causing a data center power and cooling conundrum in Australia.

This computing creates a mixed need for air and liquid cooling. Data center halls also need to be designed toward 140-150% cooling capacity, beyond the 100% cooling capacity of the past, Dudley said. This provides flexibility to pivot between air and liquid cooling techniques, he explained.

Macquarie Data Centers, which is currently building a new $350 million AUD IC3 superwest data center in Sydney, is also designing security protocols for the Australian government, as the company envisions AI platforms as autonomous AI security. A “strict lockdown” will be required to protect the value

How are customers approaching data center needs?

Macquarie Data Centers predicts that growing customer demand for AI will require more capacity from hyperscale cloud providers. However, the high costs of pervasive computing in a cloud environment may force more enterprises to invest in their own platforms.

“It’s going to drive both hyperscale cloud and a new generation, a new era of on-premises infrastructure that companies will go and buy to implement,” Dudley said. “Currently, Macquarie Data Centers is seeing a variety of customers with different needs for data centers in Australia”

Hyperscale cloud providers

Hyperscale cloud providers now have their own voracious appetite for power and space, driven by the rapid growth of AI applications and cloud services. Their needs are “through the roof,” Dudley said, with some providers in the market now willing to buy any capacity available in strategic locations.

They are following a blended approach: Invest in your own purpose-built facilitiesPartnering with co-location providers, and launching data centers built to specifications. Hyperscalers are now planning five to 10 years ahead to secure the resources they need, Dudley said.

Government Institutions

Government clients are currently only “dabbling” in AI.most federal agencies rely on SaaS and hyperscale cloud services instead of investing heavily in their own infrastructure. However, defense and other major government agencies are now beginning to acquire AI capabilities to support critical operations.

See: AI surge could trigger global chip shortage by 2026, research suggests

Private sector organizations

Dudley said there were a number of major “stealth projects” underway at major Australian institutions. These plans include securing infrastructure by partnering with chip manufacturers and partnering with high-performance compute OEMs.

He said the rest of the local Australian enterprise market was still experimenting with AI and leveraging the hyperscale cloud to do so. This computing is happening at a “super premium rate” as organizations develop strategies to use AI in the future.

What role will autonomous AI play in Australia’s future?

Macquarie Data Centers expects that the sheer value placed on AI models in the future will accelerate regulation around the protection of this intellectual property in autonomous data centers. Dudley explained that business AI models, as they learn and grow, will increasingly become valuable assets and a central point of business value.

Australia will also have good reasons for this. Develop locally autonomous AI models.:

Culture: Reliance on offshore AI models can undermine Australian values, providing decisions influenced by foreign norms rather than reflecting local social and cultural norms. An autonomous AI approach will ensure technologies align with the values ​​of the Australian community and support a strong national identity.

AI ecosystem: Dudley said Sovereign AI could boost productivity, promote local AI development, and position Australia to reap the benefits of innovation in AI. By developing AI expertise and infrastructure at home, Australia can drive growth and maintain its competitiveness in the global economy.

See: Is it Time for Australia to Build Your LLM?

Security and Governance: Locally hosted AI ensures that Australian laws govern sensitive data such as medical records and personal information. It protects intellectual property and establishes clear legal accountability for AI-driven decisions – an essential safeguard for ethical and legal integrity.

Dudley said fostering a strong autonomous AI ecosystem may require government leadership, including defining an AI regulatory framework and investing in encouraging local AI market innovation. To be ready for autonomous AI, data center infrastructure will also need to be expanded and optimized for the mix of client needs, and Australia’s energy grid will need to be modernized to support sustainable growth. .