AirTrunk named operator for two proposed Australian data centers

Asia-Pacific data center operator AirTrunk said this week that it is advancing a 935,730 sqm data center campus at 45 Donnybrook Road in Mickleham, 35km (22 miles) north of central Melbourne. The campus would cover roughly one million square feet and include up to seven buildings.

The company is also the named operator behind a separate June planning application for a 540MW data center at the former Kurri Kurri aluminium smelter in New South Wales. The Loxford site lies 167km north of Sydney and 37km from Newcastle.

What does the Mickleham proposal include?

The project sits within the 67-hectare Fusion Business Park, owned by real estate firm McMullin, close to the Kalkallo Zone Substation. News of the project first surfaced in July through a planning application.

The application did not identify its applicant. A PWC post suggested AirTrunk might develop the site, while DataCenterMap listed it as a planned Amazon campus. AirTrunk has now confirmed its role as the named operator.

AirTrunk says it designed the campus for air-based cooling and that the facility would not use community water for cooling during normal operations. It also says it would fund the grid connection and deliver new renewable energy projects. These commitments form part of the proposal rather than results from an operating facility.

AirTrunk plans to hold community information sessions in November to share details and gather feedback from local residents. “We want to engage with people who live and work in Mickleham and the surrounding area,” said Rob Bartrop, associate vice president of social impact and community at AirTrunk.

Bartrop said AirTrunk would keep the community informed, create opportunities for people to participate in training, employment and procurement, and invest in needed infrastructure in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. The company also plans to fund various community investment projects. Nearby residents and households would be able to receive an AU$200 (US$137.88) annual deduction on a standard electricity bill via Origin Energy.

Founded in 2018, AirTrunk runs campuses in operation and under development across Australia and Asia. Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan acquired it for US$16.1bn in 2024, the largest-ever deal in the data center sector at the time.

AirTrunk’s operating and development portfolio spans:

• Australia: three campuses in Sydney and two in Melbourne.
• Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong, Johor in Malaysia, two in Tokyo and two in Osaka, Japan.

Earlier this year, the company acquired Indian operator Lumina CloudInfra, officially marking its entry into India. The acquisition added India to its existing Australian and Asian market presence.

What is AirTrunk proposing at Kurri Kurri?

AirTrunk aims to develop a large two-story facility on the 21-hectare site adjacent to the Kurri Kurri Power Station. The June SEARS filing identifies the former Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri Smelter in Loxford as the proposed location for the 540MW data center.

AirTrunk says the NSW site would use air cooling and would not draw on community water. The company also says it would cover the cost of new energy infrastructure. These statements concern a planned facility rather than an operating site.

The site lies close to Snowy Hydro’s 660MW Kurri Kurri natural gas power station. Alcan Australia opened the smelter around 1969; it ceased production in 2012, and Norsk Hydro closed it in 2014.

Substantial remediation work is complete, and the former industrial property remains largely vacant. Stevens Group and McCloy Group bought the site in 2020 and planned a 2,000-hectare suburb called Loxford Waters, with 2,000 new homes, industrial estates and a business park.

For the NSW proposal, AirTrunk says it will fund community investment projects and nearby residents and households could receive an AU$200 (US$137.88) annual deduction on a standard electricity bill via Origin Energy. Both Australian sites remain proposals. AirTrunk’s water, energy and community commitments describe intended designs rather than measured operating results.

The next checkpoints are AirTrunk’s November information sessions in Mickleham and the NSW planning process for the June SEARS application. Grid funding, renewable-energy work and community commitments will need to accompany any move from proposal to construction.