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AI companies and data centre builders have approached the WA government with proposals to build data centres in WA’s Mid West and North West regions, Premier Roger Cook has confirmed.
Speaking at a Committee for the Economic Development of Australia breakfast in Perth on Tuesday morning, Cook made the revelation when asked about the opportunities for data centres to be built in the state.
“We’re getting a lot of proposals at the moment from data centre developers looking to develop in less populated areas such as the Mid West and the North West, because they still maintain that connection, that connectivity, but are less impugned by maybe population concerns,” he said.
“Two of the key ingredients for a data centre or an artificial intelligence centre are land and power, and we know we’ve got a lot of those in the Mid West and the North West. That’s why they’re starting to attract some attention from proponents.”
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There are currently 15 data centres across WA, 13 of which are in the Perth metropolitan area.
The explosion of new data centres in the USA to fuel the AI boom has caused huge angst in towns right across the country because of the centres’ large footprint as well as their power and water use.
The Commonwealth has signed an in-principle agreement on Labor’s new AI standards, which will allow a deal with AI giant Anthropic to establish itself in Australia as its second home to train its AI models.
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Cook said he was open to data centres built in WA but that there were challenges from a social licence point of view.
“It represents a significant opportunity for Western Australia, understanding that it has difficulty being developed in higher-populated areas,” he said.
“One of the things we have a lot of in Western Australia is land, and we have a lot of data connection and we have a huge opportunity to be part of that.
“We are one of the most connected locations in the world when it comes to optic fibre cable capability.
“Someone once described Perth as the Dubai airport of data in the Southeast Asian region because data comes in and out of Perth as part of this trans-global transfer.”
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He also claimed WA’s regional areas were abundant in natural resources, downplaying the impact on water availability.
“We do have a plentiful supply of water, but water is going to continue to be a challenge for Western Australia’s economy from length to breadth,” he said.
“I always tease the water minister by saying that that’s going to be our leading manufacturing base into the future because we’re going to be the manufacturers of water from Esperence right through to the Pilbara.
“We will need desalination plants in Albany. We’ll probably need desalination plants in Esperance. We’ll definitely need we’re developing desalination plants in West Pilbara. We need it in the East Pilbara as well.”
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Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement