AirTrunk (Blackstone) data centers: 11 sites mapped

AirTrunk's biggest Australian proposal is drawing organized objections. In Kemps Creek, Western Sydney, its planned campus on Mamre Road would be Australia's first data center above 1 gigawatt: 1.2 GW on 52 hectares, with 846 diesel backup generators. Penrith City Council told the state the site was "not suitable for a proposed development of this scale," and the NSW Environment Protection Authority said AirTrunk's environmental impact statement "does not provide the information required to allow us to complete our assessment." The state had already endorsed the project in March through its Investment Delivery Authority, which fast-tracks major investments.

In the Hunter region, AirTrunk proposes a 540 MW data center on the site of Kurri Kurri's former aluminum smelter, offering a $37 million-plus community package that includes $200 a year off power bills for eligible households. Two petitions against it have gathered more than 1,600 signatures combined. "If they're offering to give residents $200 off their electricity bill, then how much is it actually going to affect our electricity prices?" asked local business owner Amber Edwards-Parry. Cessnock councillor Mitchell Hill said the package "would probably be chewed up in a number of projects reasonably quickly," and noted his council does not decide the project; the state does, as a State Significant Development. It remains at the environmental impact statement stage and has not been approved.

AirTrunk is an Australian data center operator that Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to buy in 2024 for more than A$24 billion, a deal DCD called the largest in the industry's history. Founder Robin Khuda remains chief executive, and the company runs or is developing campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Hong Kong, Johor in Malaysia, Tokyo and Osaka. In Malaysia it plans $3 billion for two more campuses, JHB3 and JHB4, with more than 280 MW of capacity, and expects more than 700 MW there at full build-out.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.