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Anthropic signs Western Downs lease with Dexus-backed ADC

The first stage of the Western Downs campus needs Dexus board approval, and ADC has opened a fundraising for additional capital.

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At a glance

  1. Dexus said in its September quarterly update to the Australian Stock Exchange that the agreement is subject to customary approvals, including the Dexus board's.
  2. Dexus holds 85% of ADC.
  3. September reports put the plan at four data centers on 720 hectares at Dalby, expected to offer 2.16GW of capacity, with the first online in 2027.

Anthropic's Australian subsidiary has signed lease documentation with Australian Data Centres for the first stage of a hyperscale campus in Queensland's Western Downs.

Dexus said in its September quarterly update to the Australian Stock Exchange that the agreement is subject to customary approvals, including the Dexus board's.

Dexus holds 85% of ADC. Lease terms were not disclosed.

September reports put the plan at four data centers on 720 hectares at Dalby, expected to offer 2.16GW of capacity, with the first online in 2027.

Zerra DC, reported to be in the consortium, filed in August 2026 for a Western Downs campus.

That filing described building 1A at 36,000 sqm of data-center floor space, with an on-site battery-backed power conditioning system and a 540MVA substation. Buildings 1B, 2A and 2B would each total the same floor area.

For allocators pricing the asset, two terms remain open: Dexus's stake in ADC after the planned capital raise and the lease's final status pending board approval.

Dexus chief executive Ross Du Vernet told the company's general meeting that ADC has "launched a fundraising process to introduce additional capital to the business, of which Dexus is yet to determine the extent to which it will participate" with further details at financial close.

MoU in April, lease documented by September, capacity in 2027

Dated milestones for Anthropic's Australian data center plans

  1. Dec 2025ADC's Canberra site acquired (Completed)
  2. Apr 2026Anthropic signs MoU with Australia (Completed)
  3. Aug 2026Zerra DC files for Western Downs campus (Completed)
  4. Sep 2026Lease documentation disclosed to ASX (Current stage)
  5. 2027First data center due online (Upcoming)
Source: Dexus ASX update, Zerra DC filing, ADC website
Show as table
DateEventDetail
Dec 2025ADC's Canberra site acquired
Apr 2026Anthropic signs MoU with Australia
Aug 2026Zerra DC files for Western Downs campus
Sep 2026Lease documentation disclosed to ASX
2027First data center due online

Du Vernet described ADC as "a small Australian data center business."

Its website lists two operational data centers in Canberra, at Mitchell and Fyshwick, with Melbourne, Sydney and Darwin in development and Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane in planning. The Canberra site was acquired in December 2025.

Anthropic signed an MoU with Australia in April 2026 under which it could invest in data center infrastructure and energy throughout the country.

Separately, Nvidia was in talks to backstop debt for Nscale's 460MW Anthropic campus, with guarantees estimated at more than $5 billion, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported.

The next marker is financial close of the Anthropic project.

Reported by the Data centers & fiber desk from Data Center Dynamics and Dexus September quarterly update to the ASX (quoted by Data Center Dynamics). Published . Corrections

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