Geelong is rapidly emerging as one of Australia’s most significant digital infrastructure locations, with the region attracting unprecedented investment in hyperscale data centre developments. Once viewed primarily as an industrial and manufacturing city, Geelong is increasingly being positioned as a strategic destination for cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and large-scale digital infrastructure. The combination of abundant land, proximity to Melbourne, access to major transmission infrastructure, and strong connectivity is creating the foundations for what could become one of the largest data centre clusters in the Asia-Pacific region.
The catalyst for this transformation is the scale of projects now being proposed across the Greater Geelong region. NEXTDC has acquired a 169-hectare site at Lovely Banks for its M5 campus, with industry reports indicating the development could ultimately support approximately 1,200MW of IT capacity. If realised, the project would rank among the largest data centre campuses in Australia and demonstrate the growing attractiveness of regional Victoria for hyperscale operators.
Adding further momentum, HyperDC has lodged plans for its proposed MBL1 campus at Moorabool, adjacent to the Moorabool Terminal Station and the Victorian Big Battery. The development is proposed at approximately 400MW, leveraging direct access to high-voltage transmission infrastructure and large-scale energy storage capabilities.
Collectively, current proposals suggest the Geelong region will support close to 2GW of future data centre capacity. This would elevate Geelong from a regional edge-computing location to a nationally significant digital infrastructure hub, comparable with some of the world’s major emerging AI and cloud computing clusters.
Data centres of this scale require extensive investment in long-haul fibre networks, diverse transmission routes, interconnection facilities and low-latency connectivity between major population centres and international gateways. As Geelong’s digital infrastructure footprint expands, telecommunications carriers will need to deploy additional high-capacity fibre paths linking Geelong with Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Darwin, creating a new generation of national digital infrastructure capable of supporting hyperscale cloud and AI workloads.
Geelong’s strategic importance is being further enhanced by the development of new subsea cable infrastructure on Victoria’s Surf Coast. SUBCO’s SMAP (Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth) cable system is establishing a new cable landing station at Torquay, immediately south of Geelong, while a new high-capacity fibre corridor is being constructed between Geelong and Melbourne. The SMAP system will provide direct connectivity to major international markets including the United States, Singapore and India and deliver up to 400 terabits per second of capacity. This positions Geelong and the broader Surf Coast region as a critical gateway between Australia’s domestic fibre networks and global communications infrastructure.
These developments align closely with broader national initiatives such as the Inligo Networks Unite Cable System, ACC-1, and the Darwin Digital Gateway. While Darwin is emerging as Australia’s northern gateway for international subsea connectivity into Asia and beyond, Geelong is rapidly developing as a major southern landing, processing and interconnection hub.
The combination of gigawatt-scale data centre developments, new international cable infrastructure, abundant renewable energy resources and proximity to Melbourne creates a powerful strategic proposition. Together, Darwin and Geelong have the potential to become the northern and southern anchors of a new Australian digital corridor, supporting the nation’s AI, cloud computing and digital economy requirements for decades to come.
