STACK Infrastructure, a hyperscale data center developer and operator backed by IPI Partners, a digital infrastructure private equity firm, today announced that it will expand its footprint by adding 124 megawatts of power capacity in the markets of Melbourne, Canberra, and Perth, Australia. As part of this expansion, STACK is partnering with Hickory, an Australian commercial real estate developer, to enter Australia’s data center market.
While STACK Infrastructure notes its intention to create “an Australian national data center platform” the apparent omission from the company’s initial plans is Sydney, Australia’s largest data center market.
STACK Infrastructure – Australia Data Centers
STACK Infrastructure is gaining three data center properties from Hickory, in Melbourne, Canberra, and Perth, that are either under construction or are pre-construction, but have received development approval. Notably, Hickory only formed its data center unit, to build, own, and operate hyperscale data centers, in mid-2021. Below is a summary of STACK Infrastructure / Hickory’s 124-megawatt pipeline:
| Data Center | Suburb | Market | MW | sqft | sqm |
| MEL01 | Truganina | Melbourne | 72 | 462k | 42.9k |
| ACT01 | Hume | Canberra | 28 | 257k | 23.9k |
| PER01 | Wangara | Perth | 24 | ~220k | ~20.5k |
| Total | — | — | 124 | ~940k | ~87.5k |
Through prior disclosures, Hickory stated that two of its data centers, in Melbourne and Canberra, would represent an investment of A$1.1bn ($790m USD) once completed. Based on the 100-megawatt size of these two facilities, Hickory’s implied cost to build is A$11.0m ($7.9m USD) per megawatt. Reapplying this ratio to the total 124-megawatt pipeline that STACK is gaining from Hickory, indicates a total build cost of A$1.36bn ($980m USD) for Hickory’s three data center projects in Melbourne, Canberra, and Perth.
Data Center Developments
Melbourne (MEL01)
STACK Infrastructure’s MEL01 data center development is located in the city of Truganina, a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. At full build-out, the facility will comprise 72 megawatts of power capacity across 409k sqft (38.0k sqm) of technical area and 52.6k sqft (4.9k sqm) of office & storage space. In terms of layout, the data center campus will include two 36-megawatt buildings and 18 data halls.
Presently, STACK’s Melbourne data center is under construction and is expected to be delivered in early 2023. Regarding power, the facility will be supplied by an on-site substation and 66 kV feeders.
Canberra (ACT01)
STACK Infrastructure’s ACT01 data center development is located in the suburb of Hume, south of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. At full build-out, the facility will comprise 28 megawatts of power capacity across 216k sqft (20.0k sqm) of technical area and 41.8k sqft (3.9k sqm) of office & storage space. In terms of layout, the data center will offer 8 data halls.
Presently, STACK’s Canberra data center has received development approval and is expected to begin construction in Q3 2022, with delivery set for the second-half of 2023. Regarding power, the site will be supplied by diverse 11 kV feeders.
Perth (PER01)
STACK Infrastructure’s PER01 data center development is located in the city of Wangara, a northern suburb of Perth, the capital city of the state of Western Australia. At full build-out, the facility will comprise 24 megawatts of power capacity across ~220k sqft (~20.5k sqm) of area.
Presently, STACK’s Perth data center has received development approval and is expected to begin construction in Q3 2022, with delivery set for the second-half of 2023.
Management
Hickory’s data center management team, led by Joel O’Halloran, Michael Gunton, and James Veness will join STACK Infrastructure, which will operate under the name STACK Australia. At Hickory and previously, this management team had the following roles:
- Joel O’Halloran: Chief Executive Officer of Hickory Data Centres. Previously, O’Halloran was an executive at IBM, as the Head of Sales, Global Technology Services A/NZ
- Michael Gunton: Chief Operating Officer of Hickory Data Centres. Prior to this role, Gunton worked for Canberra Data Centres (CDC)
- James Veness: Chief Customer Officer of Hickory Data Centres. Previously, Veness ran data center operations for Macquarie Telecom
Customers
STACK Australia’s data centers will target hyperscalers and enterprise clients. Within hyperscalers, the major cloud service providers (CSPs) are driving a significant need for new hyperscale capacity in Australia.
Focusing solely on STACK Australia’s initial markets of Melbourne, Canberra, and Perth, the following CSPs have existing deployments or are opening new cloud regions:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): Melbourne (announced)
- Microsoft Azure: Melbourne, Canberra
- Google Cloud: Melbourne
- Oracle Cloud: Melbourne
Importantly, Microsoft is a key customer of STACK Infrastructure on a global basis, making the hyperscaler’s presence in both Melbourne and Canberra significant.
STACK Infrastructure – Overview
STACK Infrastructure’s data center portfolio comprises operational facilities and development projects throughout the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA regions:
- Americas: Atlanta, Calgary, Chicago (Elk Grove Village), Dallas-Fort Worth, New Albany (Columbus), Northern Virginia (Ashburn and Manassas), Phoenix (Goodyear), Portland (Hillsboro), Silicon Valley (San Jose), and Toronto
- Asia-Pacific: Singapore and Tokyo, Japan
- EMEA: Oslo, Norway; Stockholm, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Milan, Italy; and Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland
Collectively, STACK Infrastructure and IPI Partners have built a hyperscale and enterprise data center portfolio with facilities in the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland, with the ability to support over 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of IT capacity.
