SYDNEY, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Nvidia said on Thursday it was planning an expansion of data centre computing capacity in Australia that would more than double the nation's current load through partnerships with local firms.
The chip company said it was working with Australian cloud and data centre firms including Firmus, CDC, NEXTDC and AirTrunk, targeting a buildout of up to 2 gigawatts of AI-related capacity by 2027.
The announcement comes as Australia positions itself as a global hub for data centre investment, while facing calls for tougher regulation over concerns about their environmental impact and heavy energy and water consumption.
Australia's current computing capacity is 1.6 GW, according to a report from lobby group Data Centres Australia, citing research from analysts DC Byte.
Nvidia said the capacity expansion would support Australia's demand for AI. Its partners' data centres would be built using its "DSX platform".
"Growing AI adoption across industries is increasing demand for high-performance computing," Nvidia said in a statement.
"Expanding capacity in Australia will enable local innovators to develop models, applications and agents while supporting additional power generation projects to support regional and global demand for AI compute."
(Reporting by Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru and Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)