AirTrunk to Expand Melbourne Campus to keep up with Demand
Leading APAC hyperscale data centre operator AirTrunk plans to expand its data centre campus in Melbourne, Australia.
AirTrunk specialises in creating a platform for cloud, content and large enterprise customers across the Asia-Pacific & Japan region. The company already has campuses in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, where it develops and operates data centre campuses with the goal to provide top-tier reliability, alongside energy and water efficiency. AirTrunk’s design and construction methodologies allow it to offer customers scalable and sustainable data centre solutions.
AirTrunk expands MEL1 campus with AU$1bn investment
AirTrunk was founded in 2014 and is based in Sydney, Australia. Acquired by Macquarie Group, the company operates large scale wholesale data centres.
In 2017, AirTrunk launched MEL1, which is set on over 21.7 acres in West Melbourne. Now, this expansion will include the construction of the remaining three phases of the six phases in MEL1 campus.
At 185MW total campus capacity, MEL1 will be one of the largest and most connected data centres in Australia, supporting all major availability zones offering Public Cloud and AI services.
The current 100MW+ expansion will create over 1,000 jobs during the construction phase, followed by a significant number of new highly skilled technical and operational jobs in the area. The project is expected to see over AU$1bn (US$665m) of investment over the next two years.
“I am excited to announce a huge expansion in our Melbourne West (MEL1) campus to support the growth of our customers,” said Robin Khuda, AirTrunk founder and CEO. “This expansion will include the construction of the remaining three phases of the six phases in MEL1 campus that will deliver over 100MW of new IT load.”
Robin was previously chosen for our Lifetime of Achievement award, chosen for his leadership, passionate management and charismatic approach to his work. As well as this, Khuda is held in high regard by industry publications, having also been awarded:
- Asia Pacific Business Leader of the Year 2018 by DatacenterDynamics
- Tech in Asia's Top 30 Tech Startup Founders in 2018
- Capacity Media's Power 100 list
- Data Economy's Power 200
- The APAC 50
- In 2019, Goldman Sachs named him among the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of the year.
Resilience is key to leading one of APACs largest data centre operating platforms
We chose Laura Coad, Chief Data Centre Officer at AirTrunk, in our Top 10: Women in Data Centres in APAC.
Laura Coad holds a strong commercial background across property management across APAC and EMEA, in her previous role, Laura worked with Digital Realty for two years as Regional Manager of Portfolio Operations. Now at AirTrunk, Laura was promoted to Chief Data Centre Officer in February 2024. There, her goal is to continue the operational management of AirTrunk’s hyperscale data centre platform, which spans six data centres, five markets and four countries.
“With a focus on operating excellence and resilience, in her role as Chief Data Centre Officer, she will lead one of the region’s largest data centre operating platforms and play a key role in supporting the operations of our global technology customers,” said Robin. “She has progressed to our executive team through a development pathway that built on her strong leadership skills, a relentless customer focus and drive for empowering teams and delivering results.”
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