A$4.25 Billion Green Loan to Fund AirTrunk’s Sydney Campus Expansion
Key Facts
AirTrunk said on 27 October 2026 that it had secured a A$4.25 billion green loan to fund the continued development of its SYD3 campus in western Sydney. The company said the financing is for the campus it is developing as part of its Australian data centre platform. The campus has capacity of more than 400 megawatts, according to a statement from construction company Bouygues, rather than exactly 400 megawatts. AirTrunk is targeting completion of the expanded development by mid-2028, with construction led by AW Edwards. The financing puts a major project under way as the company expands in Australia.
AirTrunk structured the facility as a green loan with adjustments to the interest margin. It said contributions from margin savings would be directed to its social impact programme to support local charities. A consortium of 32 domestic and international financial institutions participated in the loan, while 14 banks led the underwriting. The lead banks include National Australia Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, HSBC, DBS and BNP Paribas, as well as other international banks. The company’s statement described the lender group as one of the largest assembled to finance a data centre in Australia.
The new financing takes AirTrunk’s total committed debt globally to about A$38.4 billion, equivalent to about US$26.9 billion, the company said. The total includes more than A$19.8 billion allocated to its Australian projects. The company says its Australian platform comprises five campuses with total capacity exceeding 1.2 gigawatts. It has also invested more than A$12 billion in its Australian projects as of the announcement. It plans to invest a further A$75 billion in Australia over the next decade, across its platform and projects there.
The project’s local impact extends to the labour market and supply chain: AirTrunk expects SYD3 to support more than 10,000 jobs during construction. These include construction, trades, engineering, logistics and safety roles, according to the company’s statement. During the 2026 financial year, the company worked with 615 suppliers in Australia, and activity by Australian suppliers totalled A$3.4 billion. Across the sector, the Australian Energy Market Operator said 11 large data centre projects were undergoing transmission connection processes at the end of the March 2026 quarter. Those projects represented peak demand of 5.4 gigawatts, around 60% of which was in New South Wales and 40% in Victoria.
The expansion comes as the Australian Energy Market Operator expects data centre electricity consumption to rise by about 25% annually, reaching about 12 terawatt-hours, or roughly 6% of electricity supplied to the grid by 2030. The operator expects consumption to reach about 34 terawatt-hours, equivalent to 12% of grid electricity, by 2050. At the launch of SYD3 in 2021, AirTrunk said its planned capacity exceeded 320 megawatts and that its two connected campuses in western Sydney would exceed 450 megawatts. In 2024, it said the SYD3 expansion was responding to growth in artificial intelligence and cloud computing, and that its design aimed to use about 80% less water than a conventional data centre, with a power usage effectiveness rating of 1.15. The company says SYD3 financing supports its goal of reaching net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
Construction at the expanded campus is expected to continue until the target completion date in mid-2028, according to AirTrunk and Bouygues. The company said construction work is under way, led by AW Edwards. The contractor’s statement says the SYD3 project exceeds 400 megawatts and is expected to be completed on the same timeline. The company’s planned additional A$75 billion investment in Australia covers the next decade. These dates and commitments remain part of the company’s announced plan to expand its Australian platform.