AI Giant Anthropic Signs $32b Deal for Queensland Data Centre

AI giant Anthropic has signed a deal to use a $32 billion data centre hub on Queensland's Western Downs, expected to create thousands of ongoing jobs. The Western Downs Digital Park, to be built near Dalby by a Singaporean developer, will be the largest facility of its kind in the country.

A Major Investment

The facility's power draw will be comparable to 1.5 million average Australian households. Anthropic aims to start using the centre in 2027, despite the development application only being filed with the local council last month. The company will use the site to power its artificial intelligence program Claude to answer user questions, rather than for training AI models.

The multi-billion-dollar investment is almost five times greater than the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games infrastructure budget. The data centre will be located near existing gas-fired power stations.

Government Support

Premier David Crisafulli said the deal was a direct result of his recent trade mission to the US. "This is a major win that will deliver more jobs, put more energy into Queensland's grid and drive down power prices for Queenslanders," he said. "My meeting with Anthropic during the trade mission was to outline why Queensland was the place to invest, with energy security, locations to invest and a streamlined approvals process to get it right."

Mr Crisafulli has promised data centre investment will drive down energy costs for consumers, and companies must add energy to the local grid. The government said the digital park would not require any new transmission infrastructure, and would use minimal water during operation.

Community Concerns

Federal Maranoa MP David Littleproud welcomed the project but said it must deliver "genuine, lasting benefits" for the local community. "Power reliability and cost for existing homes, farmers and businesses cannot be sacrificed to get this project across the line," Mr Littleproud said in a statement.

Save Our Darling Downs spokesperson and farmer Liza Balmain said the community had been "asking for the brakes to be put on" the data centre project. "We are deeply concerned about the proposed energy consumption of this particular data centre ... and the fact that it could be running on gas-fired power generation," she said.

Western Downs Mayor Andrew Smith said the deal was "interesting" and that talk of "around 1,000 jobs" would bring opportunities to the region. Cr Smith said the data centre was not yet a "done deal" with the application still before the council's planning team.