Capability 1.3.4

Suitable Land

Definition

Availability of appropriately zoned, infrastructure-ready land for AI compute or data centre development. This needs to involve appropriate approvals from First Nations owners, consider proximity to power, connectivity and cooling resources, and note the differentiated AI training and AI inferencing latency constraints on land location.

Examples

Industrial and technology precincts planned for digital infrastructure (e.g. Melbourne Data Centre Corridor).

Indicators

Land availability near high-capacity grid nodes

National AI Plan

PLAN COMMITMENT

Limited commitment

Highlights Australia's land as an asset (Action 1), but no specific commitments. Plan includes no details on working across government to leverage this advantage to fill capability gaps elsewhere in the AI ecosystem. Limited commitment by government in the plan aligns with recommendation to maintain and monitor.

Stocktake

Tightening supply of suitable land and construction delays set to impact Australia's data centre market. CBRE. 10 April 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20251008233348/https://www.cbre.com.au/press-releases/tightening-supply-of-suitable-land-and-construct-on-delays-set-to-impact-data-centre-market
Asia Pacific Data Centre Construction Cost Guide 2025. Cushman & Wakefield. 16 January 2025. https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/insights/apac-data-centre-construction-cost-guide

Is the Stocktake missing evidence?

Share additional information for potential future Assessments