Macquarie Data Centers has announced an expansion to its next data center IC3 Super West, giving it the potential to increase its IT load to 45 megawatts, a 41% increase from its original plans.

The expansion reflects Macquarie Data Centers’ plans to meet rising demand for power and data-hungry AI workloads in Australia while creating a home for hyperscale cloud customers.

“According to CSIRO, the Australian economy could gain A$315 billion by 2028 through the integration of AI,” David Hirst, group executive at Macquarie Data Centres said.

“However, unlocking the full potential of AI hinges on the availability of advanced AI-ready data centres.

“To ensure optimal performance in training and inference of these AI models, we are designing our upcoming data centres to meet and surpass the demanding requirements for higher densities.”

IC3 Super West will be able to support the high densities and multi-megawatt power requirements of new AI chip and server infrastructure.

The data centre will also have the cooling requirements to match, by optimising the latest in both air and liquid cooling technologies.

The new data centre will be the third edition to the provider’s Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus in Sydney’s North Zone. The increase in planned capacity will mean the total campus IT load could reach 63MW.

Macquarie’s growth plans were recently bolstered by a A$160 million capital raise in June 2023. The Australian data centre provider announced that the capital raise would be put towards its future-focused expansion strategy which involves sites in Sydney to accelerate growth and support the AI ‘megatrend’.

The firm has voiced its support for AI innovation in Australia and is committed to strengthening its sovereign data centre and cloud services operations to facilitate this.