Global artificial intelligence giant Anthropic has inked its first Australian data centre deal – a proposed $32 billion development in Queensland.
The site in the Western Downs, about 250 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, will come online in 2027 and be used by the company’s Claude model to answer customer requests, referred to as inference, as opposed to training models, according to a source familiar with the deal but not authorised to speak publicly.
Anthropic, led by chief executive Dario Amodei, will take the entire capacity of the Western Downs Digital Park, near Dalby, through a long-term lease of the Singapore-owned Zerra DC’s proposed AI factory.
The company will go to market to secure a long-term power agreement, with the source stressing renewable energy capacity, likely through wind or solar, will be added to the grid.
Amodei is preparing to publicly list Anthropic in the US with a valuation of $US2 trillion ($2.8 trillion).
Premier David Crisafulli described the deal as a “major win” for Queensland, which will put more energy into the state’s grid.
“I met with Anthropic during my recent trade mission [to the United States] to outline why Queensland was the place to invest, with energy security and a streamlined approval process,” he told parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
“To have secured Anthropic’s first major investment in Australia is a massive show of confidence in Queensland.”
Crisafulli successfully lobbied the Albanese government to give Queensland an exemption from federal Labor’s demands to force AI data centres to be exclusively fuelled by new renewable energy sources.
While Anthropic plans to bring on likely new renewable energy to the grid, planning documents say the first stage of the project could be powered by gas, with three major gas power plants within two kilometres of the proposed site.
“I also want to acknowledge the common-sense decision endorsed by the prime minister [Anthony Albanese] to allow Queensland to chart its own path for power supply,” Crisafulli added in parliament.
“But we must get it right, and it must be on our terms. It must add energy generation to the grid and drive down power prices for Queenslanders.
“It must protect local water supplies, and it must respect the communities where these centres go.
“We will take hold of the economic benefits of data centres with both hands, but we’ll do it in the right locations, and we’ll do it in the right way.”
An application for the project is currently before the Western Downs Regional Council, and comes amid national debate around data centres and AI expansion.
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