Australia’s expanding data-centre footprint seen as critical to its National AI Plan

Summary

A commentary from Australian law firm Johnson Winter Slattery argues that rapid growth in data centres, driven by AI and cloud demand, is central to enabling Australia’s National AI Plan and ambitions to become an APAC data‑centre leader. The piece highlights mounting tensions between energy supply, emissions targets and the power‑hungry nature of AI workloads, calling for regulatory and energy‑market reforms to support sustainable AI infrastructure growth.