Deloitte Access Economics’ Investment Monitor: Data centres dominate new investment activity
The value of data centre projects in the Investment Monitor database has increased four-fold in the past year
Subscribe to our Weekly Economic Briefing Newsletter
Despite geopolitical uncertainty and lumbering growth clouding the near-term outlook for the Australian economy, longer term opportunities in the net zero transition and the surging demand for data centres remain firmly intact.
While higher interest rates, elevated inflation and falling dwelling prices weigh on sentiment and affect consumer-facing industries, investment activity has remained robust, particularly in data centres, utilities, transport and defence infrastructure. With $76 billion worth of new projects added over the June 2026 quarter, the total value of investment in Deloitte Access Economics’ Investment Monitor database grew by 5.7% to $1.34 trillion over the quarter.
The Investment Monitor database continues to track the structural transformation taking place in the Australian investment pipeline. The value of utilities projects has grown 13.6% over the past year and now accounts for 28% of the total database value, up from just 7.6% at the start of this decade. $96 billion worth of utilities projects are either under construction or committed, with a further $281 billion of planned investment in the pipeline. This suggests that utilities will continue to dominate Australia’s investment agenda in the coming decade.
While the utilities pipeline may be substantial, so too is the scale of demand bearing down on it. Nowhere is this more apparent than in data centres, which have experienced dizzying growth in recent years as demand for artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services has spiked. Australia’s favourable regulatory environment, secure energy grids and rapid digital adoption have made it an attractive destination for global investment in this sector. The Investment Monitor database currently tracks 33 projects with a combined value of $104 billion, a four-fold increase in value on a year prior.
Growth has been skewed towards New South Wales and Victoria - accounting for 71% of all data centre investment. Their connectivity and proximity to major population centres cement them as the natural home for this infrastructure. Victoria’s dominance is particularly stark, and data centres drove almost all of the state’s growth in project value in the latest edition.
However, other states are increasingly getting a look-in as investors chase available land, power and grid capacity beyond the east-coast hubs. This includes South Australia, which has landed IREN's $10.0 billion Bundey Campus, and the Northern Territory, home to Energy North's $11.9 billion Project Ares data centre campus.
Alongside this boom in data centres is an emerging utilities challenge. Data centres are immensely energy intensive, while also requiring substantial amounts of water to cool their high-density server equipment. Growing concern over the impact these structures will have on national utilities infrastructure has prompted a shift in government policy to ensure that growth supports broader economic, social and energy objectives. The Australian Government's new Office of Artificial Intelligence and the Australian Standards for Artificial Intelligence aim to capture opportunities while managing risks, bringing a more structured, nationally consistent regime for data centre investors.
The policies are expected to require data centres to take greater responsibility for their energy impact, such as underwriting new power supply, covering connection costs, reducing demand and improving water efficiency. One pathway for data centres to meet their energy obligations is through long-term power purchase agreements with new renewable energy projects, providing developers with the certainty required to finance new generation capacity.
The additional demand comes as investor confidence wanes – the Clean Energy Investor Group's Clean Energy Outlook 2026 found 77% of respondents experienced a deteriorating investment environment over the past 12 months. However, 92% of respondents viewed data centres as a net positive for the energy transition. Managed well, the new framework could turn data centres from competitors for scarce energy into enablers of the clean energy transition.
Yet this is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. With utilities, data centres, housing and defence projects all competing for scarce labour and resources, high construction costs and capacity constraints look set to persist. Managing these competing demands will be key to ensuring investment flows efficiently to the projects that can restore Australia’s anaemic productivity growth.
This newsletter was distributed on 7th August 2026. For any questions/comments on this week's newsletter, please contact our authors:
This blog was co-authored by Gautham Gopinath (Graduate Economist, Deloitte Access Economics)
Click on the links below to read our previous Weekly Economic Briefings:
