MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 23 June, 2025

Leading data centre developers welcome NSW Investment Delivery Authority 

Initiative to accelerate development by addressing key planning challenges

Five of Australia's largest data centre developers have welcomed plans for a NSW Investment Delivery Authority to accelerate approvals for major innovation projects, including data centres.  

The companies - AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services, CDC Data Centres, Microsoft and NEXTDC - have highlighted the importance of digital infrastructure and the significant opportunity for jurisdictions like NSW to capture additional data centre investment.

"Streamlining planning and approval processes for development permits and power allocation is an important step to help Australia capitalise on the data centre growth opportunity, and create greater certainty for developers. This announcement by the NSW Government is an extremely positive development and we look forward to continued constructive engagement through its implementation," the companies said.

As announced by the NSW Government, the Investment Delivery Authority will address complex and time consuming processes by helping cut through red tape, coordinating across government, and encouraging investment in genuine developments. It will provide advice to developers while evaluating projects for fast-track assessment and coordinating the necessary infrastructure to deliver them. There will also be opportunities to identify reforms to remove hurdles for private investment, and offer government assistance to select projects.

"Data centres are a significant emerging development opportunity for NSW, facilitating digital transformation and productivity, supporting new employment and catalysing the renewable energy transition. Speed to market is fundamental consideration for data centre developers, and the Investment Delivery Authority will play an important role accelerating the planning and development phase in NSW."

Mandala research commissioned by the five companies forecasts $26 billion investment in Australian data centre capability over the next five years to meet digital demand driven by internet-connected devices, cloud computing and AI. It called for government and industry collaboration to unlock the opportunity, including in planning, renewable energy and workforce.

"We applaud the NSW Government for collaborating with our sector. There is increasing recognition of the importance of data centres and digital infrastructure to secure the benefits of emerging cloud and Artificial Intelligence capabilities, and their impact for the broader economy. We are very pleased to see NSW take this leading step."

Media Contact: Tim Marshall, TM Advisory, 0400 00 5373, tim.marshall@tm-advisory.com.au