AirTrunk wants to borrow A$4.3bn, roughly $3bn, to build a single data centre in Sydney. The Blackstone-owned operator is in talks with banks to fund SYD3, a hyperscale facility of more than 400 megawatts, according to people familiar with the matter. The scale of the loan is a measure of how large, and how power-hungry, the buildings behind the AI boom have become.
The structure under discussion is a five-year facility, with banks approached to underwrite it. Terms are not final and could still change, the usual caveat for a deal at this stage, but the headline figure is striking on its own.
A single Australian data centre now commands debt financing comparable to the cost of a major piece of public infrastructure, raised from a syndicate of lenders rather than a government.
SYD3’s defining feature is its appetite for electricity. At more than 400MW, it sits among the most power-intensive facilities in the country, the kind of load that draws scrutiny from grid operators and local communities alike.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!That tension, between the capital rushing into AI compute and the physical limits of the power systems meant to feed it, has become the central constraint on the entire sector, and Sydney is now one of its front lines.
