Sydney's newest data centre will meet rising demand for AI

Construction has begun on Macquarie Data Centres’ IC3 Super West data centre, a project aimed at bringing more sovereign AI and cloud data centre capacity to Sydney.

Macquarie Data Centres has appointed Australian construction company FDC Construction (FDC) as the main building contractor for the centre, which will be the third and largest addition to the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus in Sydney’s North Zone. The addition of IC3 Super West will bring the total campus IT load up to 63 MW.

The new build is part of Macquarie Data Centres’ wider expansion strategy to meet the increase in demand for capacity from its hyperscale, government and enterprise customers.

“Sovereign AI and cloud data centres are the backbone of Australia’s AI-driven future,” said David Hirst, Group Executive of Macquarie Data Centres.

“The widespread adoption of AI is fuelling a new wave of next-generation AI infrastructure and GPUs from tech giants such as Dell and Nvidia,” he added. “These highly dense compute technologies can only live in purpose-built data centres that meet their significant power and cooling requirements. IC3 Super West is being built to cater to this rising demand here in Australia.”

FDC and Macquarie Data Centres have a longstanding partnership; IC3 Super West is the seventh project they have worked on together. The companies’ most recent building was IC3 East, the previous addition to the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus.

Founder of FDC Construction Ben Cottle said the longevity of the partnership was testament to the trust and level of collaboration that exists between the organisations.

“With the rapid adoption of AI resulting in increased demand for data centres, FDC’s team of experts continue to be at the forefront of delivering scalable, energy-efficient facilities like IC3 Super West that can support the ever-evolving demands of Macquarie Data Centres’ customers,” he said.

Macquarie Data Centres said that, when complete, IC3 Super West will offer customers AI densities, resilient data halls and dedicated office space. The large-scale project is expected to bring more than 1200 jobs to the region. The construction cost will be about $350 million from FY25 to the practical completion of Phase 1, which will deliver the powered core and shell, as well as 6 MW of IT load fitted out.

“Like all of Macquarie Data Centres’ facilities, IC3 Super West will be Certified Strategic by the Australian federal government,” Hirst said. “This gives our data centres a strong compliance posture as regulations around data sovereignty and AI continue to tighten in Australia and worldwide.”

Image caption: IC3 Super West concept image. Image courtesy of Macquarie Data Centres.