Macquarie Telecom announces $78M AU data centre

Macquarie Telecom plans to spend $78M AU on a new flagship hyperscale data centre, to be located at the Macquarie Park Data Centre campus in Sydney.

The new 32 MW facility, known as the Intellicentre 3 (IC3) Super West data centre, will connect with IC3 East and bring the campus to a total of 50 MW.

Planning permission is expected to be granted early next year, and phase 1 of construction at the IC3 data centre is scheduled for Q3-Q4 2023.

The company expects to complete the construction of Phase 1 of IC3 Super West in the second half of the calendar year 2023, subject to final Board approvals, with planning permission expected to be granted in early 2022.

David Tudehope, CEO of Macquarie, focused on the potential for the new data centre to bring investors to the area, and support the local economy.  “This data centre will attract new investment into Australia from multinationals looking to expand in the Asia Pacific region,” he said. “The NSW digital economy is rapidly growing, and this project will create world-class infrastructure and valuable long-term jobs in the digital and cybersecurity sector.”

The IC3 Super West data centre will be designed for high levels of security and regulatory compliance, to ensure it meets the needs of highly regulated industries. Moreover, Macquarie is also completing a Sovereign Cyber Security Centre of Excellence at the site, incorporating both physical and virtual cybersecurity measures for data protection.

Macquarie Capital, the investment and advisory arm of Macquarie Group, recently announced a strategic partnership with Prime Data Centres. Macquarie Capital will invest $5 billion USD over the next 10 years to expand Prime’s capabilities across enterprise and hyperscale data centre solutions.

Mark Bradshaw, Head of Infrastructure Investment and Development for Europe & the Americas at Macquarie Capital, said of the partnership, “With this partnership and investment, Macquarie Capital can leverage its green energy platform, financial capabilities and its global digital infrastructure experience to help Prime Data Centres accelerate the development of a promising project pipeline of 400 MW and drive long-term growth.”