Australian AI cloud provider IREN has announced plans for its first Australian data centre campus, selecting a site at Bundey in South Australia where it has secured an 800MW transmission connection through one of the state’s most significant future energy infrastructure hubs. The company said it has signed a transmission connection agreement supporting a planned 800MW data centre campus near Bundey, approximately 125km north-east of Adelaide, with energisation expected to begin from 2028.
The project is one of the largest data centre developments announced in the Asia-Pacific region and highlights the growing importance of South Australia’s emerging transmission infrastructure in attracting large-scale AI and cloud investments. Unlike many recent Australian data centre developments that have been constrained by power availability, IREN’s Bundey site benefits from direct access to a major transmission node. The agreement secures four 330kV feeder exits at the utility substation, which the company said can support up to 800MW of capacity without requiring network upgrades.
The location is also notable because Bundey sits at the centre of ElectraNet’s proposed Northern Transmission Project (NTx), a major expansion of South Australia’s high-voltage network designed to connect renewable energy zones, support growing electricity demand and accommodate future industrial loads.
While NTx was not developed specifically for data centres, the project is intended to create additional transmission capacity around Bundey, positioning the area as a potential destination for large electricity users seeking access to renewable energy and high-voltage infrastructure.
Clean energy and APAC connectivity
IREN said South Australia offered a combination of renewable energy availability, international connectivity and government support that made the location attractive for AI infrastructure. “South Australia offers what AI infrastructure at scale requires: abundant clean energy, the connectivity to serve the APAC region, and a state government that understands the opportunity and is acting on it,” said Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-chief executive of IREN.
The company said that South Australia is targeting 100 percent net renewable energy by 2027, adding that the site benefits from fibre connectivity into key Asia-Pacific markets including Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.
IREN said the Bundey campus would support both international and domestic AI demand. “The Bundey campus is able to serve global and regional AI demand, as well as South Australia’s own growing need for AI compute,” Roberts said.
“We look forward to partnering with the government of South Australia, local communities and industry to expand domestic access to AI infrastructure, support research and innovation, and help build the skills and jobs the AI economy requires,” he added.
The development is expected to create more than 500 construction jobs and over 200 ongoing operational roles once complete.
IREN’s transformation
The announcement marks another step in IREN’s transformation from a cryptocurrency mining operator into a large-scale AI infrastructure provider.
Last year, the company secured a USD 9.7 billion agreement with Microsoft to provide Nvidia GB300 GPU cloud infrastructure from its Childress, Texas campus – a project structured across four liquid-cooled data centres known as Horizon 1 through 4. More recently, IREN secured USD 3.65 billion in investment-grade financing to support deployment of that infrastructure, the highest publicly rated GPU financing ever announced and the first of its kind in the US private placement market.
IREN has also recently signed a separate agreement with Nvidia to deploy up to 5GW of AI infrastructure, pushing its total power pipeline to more than 5 gigawatts across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The Bundey project extends that strategy into Australia, where operators are increasingly searching for locations that combine transmission capacity, renewable energy access and fibre connectivity.
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas said the project could help strengthen the state’s position as a technology hub. “Data centres are a significant economic opportunity, which can bring high-quality jobs, stronger renewable energy infrastructure, and new opportunities for regional communities,” he said.
“South Australia’s leadership in renewable energy, our record investment in higher education, our unashamed pro-jobs and pro-business outlook and appointing the nation’s first dedicated minister for artificial intelligence means we are uniquely placed to seize the opportunities of AI.”