10 ยท Scenario analysis to 2030

What will the Australian data centre market be worth in 2030?

Australian data centres · as at 2026-09-21 · primer pages 64, 65 of 85

Revenue follows capacity with a lag: A$7.6-10.1bn core revenue by 2030 across scenarios

Revenue follows capacity with a lag: A$7.6bn to A$10.1bn of core revenue by 2030 across the scenarios, plus the seven signals that would move the market between bear, base and bull.

Three revenue paths from the A$5.6bn 2026 base, A$bn

Bear A$7.6bn

Base A$8.8bn

Bull A$10.1bn

Investment scenarios

A$46bnCBRE, by 2029 (committed-project basis)
inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor (Mar 2026); Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE (Q1 2025); CDC (6 May 2026)
A$60bnOxford Economics run-rate by 2030 (from A$20bn 2026)
inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor (Mar 2026); Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE (Q1 2025); CDC (6 May 2026)
A$100bn+National AI Plan pipeline framing
inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor (Mar 2026); Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE (Q1 2025); CDC (6 May 2026)

Investment scenarios. Source: inashanu estimates; Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13; CDC (6 May 2026); NEXTDC FY26 (27 Aug 2026); Oxford Economics via API Magazine (8 Sep 2026); Gadens via EcoGPT (4 Dec 2025). As at 21 Sep 2026.

Bear case
Sees the A$46bn slip 2-3 years.
Bull case
Adds Firmus-class private debt (US$10bn) at scale.

Method (all inashanu estimates)

A$5.6bn
inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor (Mar 2026); Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE (Q1 2025); CDC (6 May 2026)

A$5.6bn core 2026 revenue (IBISWorld J5921 A$4.1bn + OD5323 A$1.5bn).

8% / 12% / 16%
inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor (Mar 2026); Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE (Q1 2025); CDC (6 May 2026)

Bear 8% sits on the IBISWorld realised revenue floor (7.6% for J5921, 2020-25; 9.2% for OD5323, 2021-26). Base 12% and bull 16% are inashanu estimates on that same services-revenue basis, set between that floor and the highest published rate measured on revenue, Mordor's 20.88% hyperscale series for 2026-31. Arizton's 13.52% for 2025-31 counts investment spend on IT, electrical, mechanical, cooling and general construction, US$4.22bn (2025) to US$9.02bn (2031); those endpoints imply 13.50% and Arizton prints 13.52%. It corroborates the direction of the build and sets no rate here, because the workbook declares no conversion from an investment CAGR to a revenue one (Assumptions A51).

A$3.23m/MW/yr
inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor (Mar 2026); Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE (Q1 2025); CDC (6 May 2026)

Revenue and EBITDA are tested on one denominator, deployed MW. CBRE Sydney 250-500 kW pricing, US$177.5/kW/month at 0.66 USD/AUD, is A$3.23m/MW/yr (Market_Sizing B46; Q1 2025) against the A$2.00m/MW/yr CDC contracted EBITDA anchor (B47; 6 May 2026). Revenue exceeds EBITDA, as the stated rule requires, and the residual reads as a 62.0% asset margin (B48) beside 61.4% filed by NEXTDC on FY26 net revenue. The A$8.8bn core series cannot serve as the numerator: the ANZSIC classes book no wholesale leasing, so dividing it by every operating MW would put a stated-scope numerator over a whole-of-market denominator.

Scenario migration watchboard: seven signals that would move the market between bear, base and bull

Signals 01-06 of 07, signal 07 continues on the next page

01OpenAI-NEXTDC S7 converts to binding lease
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

MoU -> lease announcement

Adds up to ~0.6 GW bull capacity; validates MoU pipeline generally

02AirTrunk Singapore REIT prices (Sep-Oct 2026 target)
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

Prospectus + pricing vs A$24bn 2024 EV

First public mark on private platform economics; equity window opens/closes

03Net-generator legislation exposure draft
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

Early 2027

Transition relief breadth decides bear vs base for unconnected projects

04Second 400 MW+ single-tenant contract
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

Any announcement

Confirms CDC 555 MW was a trend, not an outlier

05AEMO 2026 IASR request total
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

vs 44 GW in 2025

Falling = speculative washout (healthy); rising = queue deadlock (bearish)

06US construction-starts trend
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

CBRE quarterly

Continued decline = global capex discipline arriving in AU with a lag

The thresholds behind the signals

~0.6 GWMaximum bull capacity if S7 converts (01)
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026
A$24bnAirTrunk 2024 EV the REIT prices against (02)
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026
400 MW+Second single-tenant contract size (04)
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026
44 GW2025 IASR requests: the 2026 comparator (05)
inashanu synthesis, as at 21 Sep 2026

Sources

  1. inashanu estimates. Growth bracketed by IBISWorld (Oct 2025, Mar 2026) and Mordor, as at Mar 2026
  2. Arizton investment basis, Feb 2026 edition via ResearchAndMarkets, retrieved 21 Sep 2026, bases on page 13. Cross-check: CBRE, as at Q1 2025
  3. CDC, as at 6 May 2026
  4. NEXTDC FY26 (27 Aug 2026). Investment: CBRE via de Valence, as at Dec 2025
  5. Oxford Economics via API Magazine, as at 8 Sep 2026
  6. Gadens via EcoGPT, as at 4 Dec 2025
  7. inashanu synthesis

Related

The full primer is published as an 85-page PDF (download) with the underlying market model as a workbook (download).

This page is one of 30 in Australian data centres: the research, indexed by the question each one answers, with the four pages where the published sources disagree set first.

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