Search
IDCNOVA

AirTrunk Confirmed as Operator Behind Melbourne Data Center Campus and Kurri Kurri Smelter Conversion

By: IDCNOVARegion: Oceania
Asia-Pacific data center developer AirTrunk has been identified as the operator behind two major proposed projects in Australia, including a new campus outside Melbourne and the conversion of a former aluminum smelter in New South Wales into a data center facility. The disclosures underscore the company's expanding footprint in its home market and its strategy of repurposing industrial sites for digital infrastructure.

For the Melbourne project, AirTrunk confirmed this week that it is advancing plans for a data center campus at 45 Donnybrook Road in Mickleham, approximately 35 kilometers north of central Melbourne. The site, located within the 67-hectare Fusion Business Park owned by real estate firm McMullin, sits close to the Kalkallo Zone Substation. According to the application filed in July, up to seven buildings are planned on the site, with AirTrunk stating the project would total 935,730 square meters. The campus has been designed to use air-based cooling and would not draw on community water for cooling during normal operations, the company said, adding that it would fund its grid connection and deliver new renewable energy projects.

The applicant was not named in the July filing, though a PwC post suggested the site might be developed by AirTrunk, while DataCenterMap listed it as a planned Amazon campus. AirTrunk is holding 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. "We're committed to keeping the community informed, creating opportunities for people to participate in the training, employment and procurement opportunities, and to investing in much-needed community infrastructure in Melbourne's northern suburbs." As part of its community investment, AirTrunk said 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.

Separately, AirTrunk has also been named as the operator behind a data center project at the former Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri Smelter site in Loxford, New South Wales. A State Environmental Planning Policy application was filed with the NSW government in June for a 540MW data center at the site, and AirTrunk has since confirmed it is the company behind the proposals. The company aims to develop a large two-story facility on a 21-hectare site adjacent to the Kurri Kurri Power Station, approximately 167 kilometers north of Sydney and 37 kilometers from Newcastle. The air-cooled site would not draw on community water for cooling, and AirTrunk said it would cover the cost of new energy infrastructure. The site is also close to Snowy Hydro's 660MW Kurri Kurri natural gas power station.

The Kurri Kurri smelter was opened around 1969 by Alcan Australia, ceased production in 2012, and was closed by Norsk Hydro in 2014. Remediation works have been substantially completed, and the site is today largely vacant. It was sold to Stevens Group and McCloy Group in 2020, which planned to develop the area into a new 2,000-hectare suburb called Loxford Waters with 2,000 new homes, plus industrial estates and a business park. As with the Melbourne project, AirTrunk said nearby residents and households would be able to receive an AU$200 annual deduction on a standard electricity bill via Origin Energy.

The twin disclosures highlight AirTrunk's continued expansion in Australia, where it already operates and is developing campuses in Sydney and Melbourne, alongside facilities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Johor in Malaysia, Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Founded in 2018, AirTrunk was acquired by Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan for US$16.1 billion in 2024, in what was the largest-ever deal in the sector at the time. Earlier this year, the company announced its acquisition of Indian operator Lumina CloudInfra, marking its entry into India. The projects also reflect a broader industry trend of converting former industrial sites into data center infrastructure, leveraging existing power connections and remediated land to meet growing demand for cloud and AI computing capacity across the Asia-Pacific region.