Opportunity for New Zealand to become international data centre hub

Strong growth in the internet economy, continued migration to the cloud and rising awareness of data localisation is fuelling projected growth of our data centre market, with a potential increase of +300% in market size from 2020 to 2030.

Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are already set to enter New Zealand, signalling their intent to capitalise on our local demand for cloud-data services with continued growth expected to trigger the interest of more global CSPs to set up operations in New Zealand in coming years.

Although AWS likely will prefer self-build data centres, Microsoft's preference globally is to adopt a hybrid approach using both colocation and self-build data centres with other smaller players expected to typically prefer colocation.

This increased demand for colocation data centres is likely to be further enhanced with the expected completion of the Hawaiki NUI subsea cable in 2025, which is poised to increase the South Island's connectivity to Australia. There is strong potential from Australia for offshore demand of green DC hubs that, with the improved connectivity, creates an opportunity for New Zealand's South Island to become a green DC hub with its lower temperatures and high share of renewable energy sources.

This independent study from Analysys Mason outlines global data centre market trends, data centre demand forecasts for New Zealand and an overview of the competitive landscape and future supply outlook for both New Zealand and Australia.

Download the executive summary now