EdgeConneX enters Australia with 50-50 Stockland venture and 450MW secured
US-founded operator EdgeConneX has teamed with Stockland in an equal joint venture to build hyperscale data centre campuses in Sydney and Melbourne, with 450MW of power secured. It has named Chris Maher to run its Australian business.
EdgeConneX has moved into Australia through a joint venture with Stockland, aiming to build data centre campuses in Sydney and Melbourne. Each partner holds half of the venture, which will develop, own and run a portfolio of hyperscale sites nationally. Its first pipeline sits in the two biggest cities, and 450MW of power has already been secured. The partners are pursuing further power applications and planning work beyond that capacity.
Stockland supplies land, development and project management expertise, while EdgeConneX adds experience building facilities for large content, cloud and AI customers. Justin Louis, Stockland's Chief Investment Officer, said the tie-up joined local development capability with EdgeConneX's international hyperscale and AI Factory experience. He said the partners were building a platform for "the responsible growth of Australia's digital economy".
EdgeConneX has appointed Chris Maher as Managing Director for Australia, to lead local business and market development. Maher brings more than 20 years in digital infrastructure, asset management and finance across Asia Pacific and the United States. Maher said, "Australia has a significant opportunity to become a leading market for digital infrastructure and AI".
Kelvin Fong, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at EdgeConneX, said, "Australia is one of the fastest-growing infrastructure hubs in the region". TelcoNews described the move as part of a wider Asia Pacific push as operators compete for land and electricity in major metropolitan markets. It added that power access has become a key constraint on new builds as AI drives bigger campuses and higher densities.
EdgeConneX has also become a principal member of Data Centres Australia, an industry body with more than 100 member organisations. The body cited its Economic Impact report, which put the potential gain from winning AI export business at up to $4.1 billion a year in extra activity by 2030, along with as many as 17,120 more jobs. EdgeConneX's backer is EQT Infrastructure, part of the EQT investment group.