Data Centre Boom Fuels New Investment in Australia

Private new capital expenditure (capex) rose 6.5 per cent in the March quarter 2026 to be 14.6 per cent higher than the March quarter last year (seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures), according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics, said: 'the lift in investment was the result of investment in data centre equipment, specifically server racks and processing equipment, significantly boosting overall investment figures.

'This quarter's rise builds on a similar spike in data centre investment recorded in the September quarter 2025.'

Non-mining business investment rose 8.8 per cent, while the mining industry was relatively unchanged.

Information media and telecommunications recorded the largest industry rise, up 96.1 percent, reaching a new record level.

Information media and telecommunications building and equipment, seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures

	Building - Seasonal ($m)	Building - Trend ($m)	Equipment - Seasonal ($m)	Equipment - Trend ($m)
Mar-06	543	488	347	358
Jun-06	419	463	365	356
Sep-06	472	462	359	341
Dec-06	500	504	290	331
Mar-07	1,953	2,048	498	470
Jun-07	2,346	2,046	490	451
Sep-07	1,685	1,898	370	411
Dec-07	1,703	1,707	416	398
Mar-08	1,642	1,578	419	490
Jun-08	1,522	1,543	625	589
Sep-08	1,448	1,501	704	594
Dec-08	1,589	1,517	398	509
Mar-09	1,480	1,554	424	405
Jun-09	1,599	1,530	381	371
Sep-09	1,446	1,432	363	387
Dec-09	1,239	1,289	416	391
Mar-10	1,189	1,161	401	390
Jun-10	1,050	1,084	372	398
Sep-10	1,089	1,031	404	421
Dec-10	968	1,026	498	446
Mar-11	1,076	1,075	415	446
Jun-11	1,208	1,176	432	424
Sep-11	1,235	1,287	410	411
Dec-11	1,413	1,322	407	421
Mar-12	1,314	1,365	438	430
Jun-12	1,290	1,384	433	425
Sep-12	1,584	1,355	395	389
Dec-12	1,119	1,290	333	337
Mar-13	1,294	1,262	300	309
Jun-13	1,291	1,340	307	319
Sep-13	1,548	1,452	371	353
Dec-13	1,492	1,523	378	382
Mar-14	1,488	1,564	388	382
Jun-14	1,738	1,588	369	362
Sep-14	1,466	1,632	327	348
Dec-14	1,705	1,605	347	339
Mar-15	1,602	1,531	356	338
Jun-15	1,322	1,479	318	352
Sep-15	1,557	1,513	386	374
Dec-15	1,614	1,599	417	399
Mar-16	1,749	1,645	393	414
Jun-16	1,499	1,679	423	419
Sep-16	1,867	1,770	425	416
Dec-16	1,952	1,949	409	407
Mar-17	2,039	2,145	373	393
Jun-17	2,415	2,256	403	378
Sep-17	2,223	2,307	371	383
Dec-17	2,239	2,237	370	401
Mar-18	2,184	2,111	475	418
Jun-18	1,881	2,008	392	423
Sep-18	1,942	1,861	419	417
Dec-18	1,749	1,691	412	413
Mar-19	1,432	1,553	433	423
Jun-19	1,487	1,467	408	422
Sep-19	1,558	1,478	450	437
Dec-19	1,424	1,550	422	459
Mar-20	1,651	1,590	515	458
Jun-20	1,666	1,569	407	423
Sep-20	1,389	1,488	355	371
Dec-20	1,444	1,445	358	345
Mar-21	1,497	1,513	333	367
Jun-21	1,690	1,635	436	406
Sep-21	1,677	1,743	414	421
Dec-21	1,828	1,777	434	405
Mar-22	1,801	1,738	330	380
Jun-22	1,548	1,685	405	373
Sep-22	1,718	1,636	387	394
Dec-22	1,653	1,643	401	421
Mar-23	1,585	1,665	494	450
Jun-23	1,785	1,691	433	484
Sep-23	1,691	1,773	556	512
Dec-23	1,835	1,811	513	538
Mar-24	1,902	1,795	1,040	1,010
Jun-24	1,626	1,776	1,047	1,078
Sep-24	1,840	1,769	1,134	1,151
Dec-24	1,842	1,825	1,328	1,201
Mar-25	1,874	1,929	1,126	1,278
Jun-25	2,086	2,052	1,489	1,220
Sep-25	2,242	2,247	2,808	1,795
Dec-25	2,420	2,459	2,019	3,056
Mar-26	2,724	2,654	5,979	4,557

New equipment and machinery investment is now at the highest level in the history of the series, up 18.1 per cent. This was driven by non-mining equipment and machinery (+20.1 per cent), specifically information media and telecommunications (+196.1 per cent).

Mining equipment and machinery (+7.2 per cent) also rose.

Building and equipment, seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures

	Building - Seasonal ($m)	Building - Trend ($m)	Equipment - Seasonal ($m)	Equipment - Trend ($m)
Mar-06	14,808	15,184	15,247	15,147
Jun-06	16,399	15,554	14,650	14,960
Sep-06	15,264	15,353	14,910	14,742
Dec-06	14,428	15,295	14,772	14,881
Mar-07	17,679	17,280	15,372	15,487
Jun-07	18,596	17,926	16,154	15,890
Sep-07	17,454	18,314	16,159	16,234
Dec-07	18,805	18,427	16,583	16,623
Mar-08	18,995	18,596	17,048	17,308
Jun-08	18,576	19,305	18,230	18,014
Sep-08	20,504	20,856	18,530	18,205
Dec-08	23,354	22,102	17,696	17,963
Mar-09	21,902	22,197	17,388	17,479
Jun-09	21,451	21,077	17,709	17,421
Sep-09	19,408	20,088	16,968	17,764
Dec-09	19,955	19,935	18,864	18,007
Mar-10	21,014	20,639	17,619	17,643
Jun-10	21,148	21,746	16,943	16,964
Sep-10	23,605	22,714	16,148	16,800
Dec-10	23,317	23,667	17,846	17,546
Mar-11	25,300	25,571	18,794	18,501
Jun-11	27,795	28,395	18,915	19,176
Sep-11	33,335	31,854	19,594	19,467
Dec-11	33,747	35,254	19,654	19,624
Mar-12	38,468	37,905	19,697	19,739
Jun-12	40,024	39,173	19,722	19,932
Sep-12	38,415	38,916	20,262	20,088
Dec-12	37,721	37,651	20,135	19,923
Mar-13	36,798	37,266	19,191	19,491
Jun-13	37,564	37,810	18,862	18,801
Sep-13	39,166	38,282	18,413	18,080
Dec-13	38,042	38,260	16,925	17,356
Mar-14	36,204	37,845	17,237	16,992
Jun-14	37,834	37,531	16,777	17,235
Sep-14	36,969	36,935	18,118	17,756
Dec-14	35,924	35,586	17,989	17,971
Mar-15	33,134	33,561	17,705	17,588
Jun-15	32,110	31,793	16,824	16,800
Sep-15	28,951	29,864	15,900	16,242
Dec-15	29,633	28,610	16,258	16,136
Mar-16	26,804	26,671	16,330	16,350
Jun-16	24,031	24,528	16,624	16,497
Sep-16	22,887	23,086	16,393	16,408
Dec-16	23,010	22,892	16,240	16,258
Mar-17	23,377	23,247	16,143	16,194
Jun-17	23,504	23,631	16,354	16,323
Sep-17	23,959	23,824	16,619	16,676
Dec-17	23,830	23,791	17,051	17,061
Mar-18	23,424	23,483	17,698	17,474
Jun-18	23,164	23,093	17,472	17,884
Sep-18	22,569	22,820	18,594	18,219
Dec-18	23,209	22,948	18,316	18,457
Mar-19	22,606	22,580	18,468	18,499
Jun-19	21,835	22,153	18,505	18,360
Sep-19	22,038	21,705	18,027	18,188
Dec-19	21,031	21,219	18,046	17,894
Mar-20	20,805	20,508	17,667	17,699
Jun-20	19,705	19,693	16,046	17,761
Sep-20	19,040	19,176	16,156	18,071
Dec-20	19,101	19,245	17,363	18,506
Mar-21	19,877	19,868	18,815	18,810
Jun-21	20,854	20,611	18,977	18,931
Sep-21	21,006	21,173	18,939	18,958
Dec-21	21,505	21,409	18,990	19,027
Mar-22	21,568	21,411	19,103	19,179
Jun-22	21,237	21,441	19,523	19,319
Sep-22	21,670	21,729	19,358	19,437
Dec-22	22,529	22,510	19,559	19,705
Mar-23	23,367	23,491	20,162	20,150
Jun-23	24,556	24,213	20,768	20,543
Sep-23	24,445	24,592	20,701	20,777
Dec-23	24,517	24,598	20,758	20,969
Mar-24	24,716	24,428	21,430	21,225
Jun-24	23,962	24,293	21,366	21,430
Sep-24	24,411	24,298	21,465	21,386
Dec-24	24,441	24,490	21,214	21,155
Mar-25	24,890	24,756	20,993	21,085
Jun-25	24,922	25,122	21,255	21,238
Sep-25	25,428	25,453	23,594	22,343
Dec-25	26,076	25,587	23,287	24,179
Mar-26	25,081	25,552	27,493	26,384

Capex was down 3.8 per cent for buildings and structures, with falls in non-mining (-4.3 per cent) and mining (-2.9 per cent) industries.

'The fall in buildings and structures was driven by large projects reaching completion, particularly across manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and waste services and mining.' Mr Lay said.

'Despite the overall fall, investment in data centre building construction continues to grow with information media and telecommunications rising for the seventh straight quarter - up 12.6 per cent,' Mr Lay said.

New South Wales (+22.1 per cent) and Victoria (+12.7 per cent), which is seeing the bulk of data centre investment, rose along with South Australia (+0.2 per cent).

All other states and territories recorded a fall.

This release includes the sixth estimate for planned capex in 2025-26. Businesses revised their expected capex for 2025-26 to be up by 4.5 per cent (in current prices) since their last estimate.

This release also includes the second estimate for planned capex in 2026-27. Businesses revised their expected capex for 2026-27 to be up by 9.9 per cent on the first estimate last quarter.

'Business expectations on future capex increased, driven by continued investment in data centres,' Mr Lay said.

Given the rapid growth in data centre investment, the ABS published a Data Centres in Economic Statistics article last quarter detailing data centre activity within the suite of ABS economic statistics.

/ABS Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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