New Zealand AI Data Center Market Size, Share & Forecast to 2035

The New Zealand AI Data Center Market is valued at USD 273.46 million in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 846.81 million by 2035, up from USD 193.53 million in 2025, a CAGR of 15.91% from 2025 to 2035 (DC Market Insights estimate). What moves the money in New Zealand is power that is already renewable: 88.5% of the country’s electricity came from renewable sources in 2025, and that is why Mercury took a 12.7% stake in Datagrid’s consented 360 MW campus at Makarewa in Southland in July 2026 and why Contact Energy and CDC Data Centres are studying a 250 MW campus at Stratford in Taranaki (Source: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Mercury and Contact Energy NZX releases). Auckland still takes 80% of the spend, because the Amazon Web Services (AWS) region that opened on 1 September 2025 with three availability zones and a NZ$7.5 billion plan sits there, beside Microsoft’s New Zealand North region and CDC’s Hobsonville and Silverdale campuses (Source: AWS). The New Zealand AI Data Center Market covers what operators pay for the artificial intelligence (AI) hall itself: power, cooling, shell, fit-out, racks, in-hall network cabling and the services that keep it running, with graphics processing unit (GPU) servers left out. In 2025 that came to USD 178.92 million for 12.60 MW of new AI halls (30% of the 42 MW New Zealand completed, at USD 14.20 million per MW), USD 9.20 million for converting 2 MW of older halls at USD 4.60 million per MW, and USD 5.41 million of services across 15.93 MW already running. Services grow fastest, at 38.75% a year, and Southland and Otago is the fastest-growing region at 38.65% a year as the Makarewa AI factory takes power from 2027.

Key Market Statistics: What Will New Zealand Spend on AI Halls in 2026?

DC Market Insights values the New Zealand AI Data Center Market at USD 273.46 million in 2026, 41.30% above 2025, as new AI IT capacity rises from 12.60 MW to 17.28 MW.

• Market size 2025: USD 193.53 million
• Market size 2026: USD 273.46 million
• Market size 2030: USD 608.55 million
• Market size 2035: USD 846.81 million
• CAGR 2025-2035: 15.91% (low case 11.94%, high case 18.50%)
• Largest component: Electrical Infrastructure, 33.98% of 2025 spend (USD 65.76 million)
• Fastest component: Operations Services and Software, 38.75% a year
• Fastest cooling approach: Immersion Cooling, 27.85% a year; Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling reaches USD 491.15 million by 2035
• Leading region: Auckland, 80.00% of 2025 spend; fastest-growing region: Southland and Otago, 38.65% a year
• Largest location: Hobsonville (Auckland), USD 58.06 million in 2025
• Largest buyer group: Hyperscale Cloud Regions, 50% of 2025 spend (DC Market Insights estimate)

Key Takeaways: Three Facts for Anyone Planning AI Capacity in New Zealand

DC Market Insights draws four takeaways from a New Zealand AI data center market that grows from USD 193.53 million in 2025 to USD 846.81 million in 2035.

• The south is where the megawatts are: Southland’s share of spend rises from 3% in 2025 to 18% in 2035, because Datagrid’s 360 MW campus sits next to hydro supply and holds resource consent (Source: Mercury NZX release, July 2026).
• A New Zealand AI hall costs USD 14.20 million per MW of IT load before servers in 2025, because liquid cooling and heavier power trains add about USD 5 million to a conventional megawatt (DC Market Insights estimate).
• Power price swings matter more than tariffs: wholesale prices fell from over NZ$280 per MWh in late August 2025 to an average of NZ$30 in October 2025, so long contracts decide AI tenant economics (Source: Electricity Authority).
• Auckland keeps the cloud work: its spend still grows 12.04% a year to USD 482.68 million by 2035, because latency-sensitive inference stays near users and cable landings.

New Zealand AI Data Center Market Summary: What Did New Zealand Spend on AI Halls in 2025?

New Zealand spent USD 193.53 million on AI data center facility infrastructure in 2025. The New Zealand AI Data Center Market size was valued at USD 6.85 million in 2020, reached USD 193.53 million in 2025, and is anticipated to reach USD 846.81 million by 2035, at a CAGR of 15.91% during the forecast period. From 2020 to 2025 the market grew 95.08% a year from a very small base, as the AI share of capacity built in New Zealand rose from 5% to 30% and the first hyperscale regions opened in Auckland.

Report attribute	Details
Historical period	2020-2024
Base year	2025
Forecast period	2026-2035
Market size 2025	USD 193.53 million
Market size 2026	USD 273.46 million
CAGR 2025-2035	15.91%
Market size 2035	USD 846.81 million
Segments covered	Component, Buyer, Cooling Approach, Workload
Regions covered	Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Waikato and Taranaki, Southland and Otago; 12 locations

Growth runs at 18-41% a year from 2026 to 2030 as Hobsonville, Silverdale, Takanini and Makarewa energise AI halls, then slows to 6.50% by 2035 when annual AI completions level off near 40 MW and services carry more of the total. DC Market Insights estimates that New Zealand holds about 2% of Asia Pacific AI data center facility spend in 2025; the regional picture is in the Asia Pacific AI Data Center Market report.

What Is the New Zealand AI Data Center Market, and Where Does It Stop?

The New Zealand AI Data Center Market measures USD 193.53 million of 2025 spend on the physical and operating layer of AI-dense halls in New Zealand, counted where the hall is built.

Included

• Electrical infrastructure for AI halls: high-voltage intake and substations, transformers, switchgear, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, busways and rack power distribution.
• Cooling for racks above about 30 kW: chillers and dry coolers, coolant distribution units (CDUs), rear-door heat exchangers, direct-to-chip loops and immersion tanks.
• Building shell, fit-out and racks for halls designed for AI densities, including structural floors for liquid-cooled racks.
• AI network fabric inside the hall: structured cabling, fibre trays and the passive plant that links GPU clusters.
• Operations services and software: maintenance, commissioning, data center infrastructure management (DCIM) and monitoring of installed AI halls.

Excluded

• GPU servers, storage, switches and other IT equipment.
• Land, electricity bills, colocation rent and GPU cloud revenue.
• Halls built only for conventional enterprise or cloud racks below about 30 kW.

How the Segments Fit Together

Component values come straight from the model; buyer, cooling and workload splits each divide the same total, so every dimension sums to USD 193.53 million in 2025 and USD 846.81 million in 2035. The boundary with the New Zealand Data Center Market report is clear: that report counts the whole national data center market, while this one counts only the AI hall layer, about 6% of national data center value in 2025 by DC Market Insights estimates.

Why Do New Zealand AI Data Center Numbers Differ Between Sources?

The USD 273.46 million DC Market Insights figure for 2026 counts facility infrastructure only, so it sits well below totals that include servers or cloud revenue.

Broader definitions add GPU servers, which can cost three to five times the hall per megawatt, plus AI cloud services, AI software platforms, machine learning operations tools and edge AI devices. Some estimates also count every hyperscale hall as “AI” whatever its rack density, or add generative AI applications sold to New Zealand firms from data centers in Australia. This report leaves out GPU servers, cloud AI services, AI software, edge devices and overseas capacity, and keeps small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), government agencies, iwi-owned businesses and research users in scope when they buy AI hall space in New Zealand.

Element	In this report	Why
AI hall power, cooling, shell and fabric	Yes, USD 188.12 million in 2025	Core physical spend
Operations services and software	Yes, USD 5.41 million in 2025	Recurring spend on installed AI halls
GPU servers and storage	No	IT equipment, counted in server reports
AI cloud and GPU-as-a-service revenue	No	Service revenue, not infrastructure
Conventional halls below 30 kW per rack	No	Counted in the national data center report

Market Drivers: What Drives AI Data Center Spending in New Zealand?

Three drivers lift New Zealand AI hall spend from USD 193.53 million in 2025 to USD 608.55 million in 2030, each tied to a named project or rule.

Renewable Contracts Pull AI Campuses South: Datagrid’s 360 MW at Makarewa

Datagrid’s Makarewa campus near Invercargill holds resource consent for 360 MW, and Mercury paid USD 30 million for 12.7% of Datagrid NZ on 22 July 2026, with a final investment decision expected later in 2026 (Source: Mercury NZX release). Mercury had already signed a 140 MW, 15-year power purchase option with the project in March 2026, according to the same release. DC Market Insights models the first Southland AI halls from 2027, which is why the southern share of national AI hall spend rises from 3% in 2025 to 18% in 2035. The draw is hydro power near the Tiwai Point smelter, which holds contracts for 572 MW to at least 2044, and that renewable supply is what AI tenants with emissions targets pay for.

Hyperscale Regions in Auckland: AWS’s NZ$7.5 Billion and Microsoft New Zealand North

AWS opened its Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region on 1 September 2025 with three availability zones, backed by a NZ$7.5 billion investment plan over 15 years (Source: Amazon press release) and renewable power through an agreement with Mercury, according to AWS. Microsoft’s New Zealand North region went live in December 2024, also with availability zones in Auckland, as Microsoft’s Azure notice reported. DC Market Insights counts Hyperscale Cloud Regions at 50% of 2025 AI hall spend, USD 96.77 million, because both regions host AI accelerator instances for New Zealand customers who must keep data onshore.

Colocation Capital: CDC’s Auckland Build-Out and the TenPeaks Sale

CDC Data Centres lists Silverdale Campus One at 22 MW, growing to 60 MW or more, and Hobsonville Campus One and Two at 22 MW and 54 MW (Source: CDC Data Centres). Spark sold 75% of its data center business to Pacific Equity Partners at an enterprise value of up to NZ$705 million, 30.8 times pro-forma earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), and completed the sale on 30 January 2026, according to Spark’s NZX releases; the business, now TenPeaks Data Centres, runs 23 MW at 11 sites and plans more than 130 MW. Colocation and Wholesale Campuses grow 19.78% a year to USD 423.40 million by 2035, the fastest buyer group, because new owners are funding AI-ready halls ahead of tenants.

Market Trends: How Are New Zealand AI Halls Changing?

Liquid cooling rises from 30% of New Zealand AI data center hall spend in 2025 to 66% in 2035 by DC Market Insights estimates, the biggest design shift in the market.

Direct-to-Chip Cooling Becomes the Default Design

CDC’s FY2026 results presentation for Infratil states that its design supports liquid cooling, and Datacom said it plans liquid cooling at the East Tamaki hall it bought in 2026, as trade press reported. Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling grows 25.11% a year from USD 52.25 million in 2025 to USD 491.15 million in 2035, while Air-Cooled up to 30 kW per Rack grows only 3.36% a year.

Campuses Move to Power Stations: Stratford and the Former Taranaki Combined Cycle Site

Contact Energy and CDC said on 10 August 2026 that they are exploring a 250 MW IT data center, about 350 MW at peak, at Stratford in Taranaki, supplied by Contact under a long-term contract (Source: Contact Energy NZX release). DC Market Insights models Stratford at USD 84.68 million of AI hall spend in 2035, from nothing before 2028, which lifts Waikato and Taranaki to 30.40% growth a year.

Inference Overtakes Training

AI Inference already takes 52% of 2025 spend and reaches USD 525.02 million by 2035, 17.96% a year, because New Zealand demand is mostly cloud AI services used by local firms rather than model training.

Market Challenges: What Limits AI Data Center Growth in New Zealand?

Two constraints could cut 2035 New Zealand AI data center spend to the USD 598.14 million low case: power price volatility and the grid connection queue.

Dry-Year Price Spikes

The Electricity Authority recorded a daily average wholesale price of about NZ$820 per MWh in early August 2024 against a 2018-2023 winter average near NZ$180 per MWh, and prices again topped NZ$280 per MWh in late August 2025 before falling to NZ$30 in October (Source: Electricity Authority). One AI megawatt at a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3 uses about 11,400 MWh a year, so a NZ$100 per MWh swing moves its power bill by about NZ$1.14 million a year (DC Market Insights estimate).

Grid Connection Queue and Transmission Lead Times

Transpower’s connection pipeline held about 1,010 MW of data center load in 2026 against a national record peak of 7,415 MW on 6 August 2026, according to industry readings of Transpower’s dashboard and a Transpower security-of-supply release. DC Market Insights’s low case cuts new MW by 25% and the AI share by 5 points from 2027, giving USD 598.14 million in 2035, a CAGR of 11.94%.

Market Opportunities: Where Can Suppliers Win in New Zealand AI Halls?

Two openings in New Zealand AI data centers add about USD 159.96 million of yearly spend by 2035 by DC Market Insights estimates.

Operations Services for a 356 MW AI Base

Installed AI capacity rises from 30.29 MW at the end of 2025 to 355.99 MW by 2035, so Operations Services and Software grows from USD 5.41 million to USD 143.14 million, 38.75% a year, the fastest component.

Retrofits of Auckland Enterprise Halls

Datacom’s purchase of an East Tamaki hall of about 8 MW in 2026 shows older Auckland halls being upgraded for AI densities, as trade press reported. DC Market Insights models 2 MW of retrofits in 2025 rising to 4 MW a year by 2028-2030, worth USD 20.32 million in 2030 at about USD 4.60 million per MW in 2025 prices.

Pricing: How Much Does an AI Megawatt Cost in New Zealand?

A New Zealand AI data center hall cost USD 14.20 million per MW of IT load in 2025 before servers, by DC Market Insights estimates, rising 2% a year.

Year	Facility content per AI MW (USD million)	Electrical	Cooling	Shell, fit-out and racks	Network fabric
2020	12.86	4.53	4.12	3.62	0.59
2025	14.20	5.00	4.55	4.00	0.65
2030	15.68	5.52	5.02	4.42	0.72
2035	17.31	6.09	5.55	4.88	0.79

Public anchors bracket that figure. DCI Data Centers put its 40 MW Albany build at about NZ$600 million, roughly NZ$15 million (USD 8.70 million) per MW for a conventional hall, and Datagrid’s roughly NZ$3.5 billion for 280 MW gives about NZ$12.5 million per MW, both as trade press reported. AI halls cost more than those conventional figures because direct-to-chip loops, CDUs and denser switchgear add about USD 5 million per MW. Commercial electricity averaged about 23.0 cents per kWh in 2024, up from 20.9 cents in 2023, according to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) price data. Retrofits cost about USD 4.60 million per MW in 2025, and services run USD 0.34 million per installed AI MW a year (DC Market Insights estimates).

Standards and Regulation: Which Rules Shape New Zealand AI Data Centers?

Six sets of rules and standards apply to the USD 273.46 million of New Zealand AI data center work New Zealand will see in 2026.

• New Zealand’s Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, published by MBIE on 8 July 2025, focuses on AI adoption and estimates that AI could add NZ$76 billion to gross domestic product (GDP) by 2038; it offers no compute subsidy, so private campuses carry the build (Source: MBIE).
• The Resource Management Act 1991 governs consents: Datagrid’s Makarewa campus received consent from Environment Southland and Invercargill City Council in March 2026, as Mercury’s July 2026 release confirms the 360 MW project holds resource consent.
• The Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 lists 149 projects in Schedule 2; Auckland Surf Park Stage 2, which includes a large AI data center, was referred under the Act in July 2025, according to the Minister for Infrastructure.
• The Privacy Act 2020 (Information Privacy Principle 12 on cross-border disclosure) and the government’s cloud-first policy and Protective Security Requirements push public-sector AI work into onshore regions.
• The Overseas Investment Act 2005 applied to Datagrid’s land: the Overseas Investment Office approved about 43 ha at Makarewa in February 2022 for an initial 100 MW.
• Design standards: EN 50600 for data center facilities, ASHRAE TC 9.9 thermal guidelines for liquid cooling and AS/NZS 3000 wiring rules for electrical work.

Market Segmentation: Which Segment Leads the New Zealand AI Data Center Market?

Electrical Infrastructure leads with 33.98% of 2025 spend, USD 65.76 million, while Operations Services and Software grows fastest at 38.75% a year.

By Component

Electrical, cooling and shell work make up 93% of 2025 spend because new halls dominate; services rise to 16.90% of the total by 2035 as the installed base grows.

Component	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Electrical Infrastructure	65.76	33.98%	246.90	14.14%
Cooling Infrastructure	62.39	32.24%	229.33	13.90%
Building Shell Fit-Out and Racks	51.78	26.75%	196.00	14.24%
AI Network Fabric	8.19	4.23%	31.44	14.40%
Operations Services and Software	5.41	2.80%	143.14	38.75%

By Buyer

Hyperscale Cloud Regions lead with 50% in 2025, and Colocation and Wholesale Campuses take the lead by 2035 with USD 423.40 million, as Datagrid, CDC and TenPeaks build for AI tenants.

Buyer	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Hyperscale Cloud Regions	96.77	50.00%	304.85	12.16%
Colocation and Wholesale Campuses	69.67	36.00%	423.40	19.78%
Sovereign and Public Sector AI	11.61	6.00%	59.28	17.71%
Enterprise and Telecom AI	15.48	8.00%	59.28	14.37%

By Cooling Approach

Air-Cooled up to 30 kW per Rack still leads in 2025 with 44%, but Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling becomes the largest approach before 2030 and holds 58% of 2035 spend.

Cooling Approach	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Air-Cooled up to 30 kW per Rack	85.16	44.00%	118.55	3.36%
Rear-Door and Hybrid Cooling	50.32	26.00%	169.36	12.90%
Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling	52.25	27.00%	491.15	25.11%
Immersion Cooling	5.81	3.00%	67.74	27.85%

By Workload

AI Inference takes 52% of 2025 spend and 62% of 2035 spend, because local users buy AI services rather than train frontier models in New Zealand.

Workload	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
AI Training	92.90	48.00%	321.79	13.23%
AI Inference	100.64	52.00%	525.02	17.96%

DC Exclusive: The New Zealand AI Campus Pipeline Tracker, 8 Projects and About 894 MW

DC Market Insights tracks 8 named New Zealand AI data center campuses with about 894 MW of announced IT capacity, worth about USD 6.35 billion of AI hall spend if half becomes AI halls at 2025 prices. This DC Market Insights model uses 10 inputs: each project’s MW, status and date from company and NZX releases, plus the 2025 content per AI MW.

Project	Operator	Location	IT MW	Status (date)
Makarewa AI campus	Datagrid NZ	Southland	360	Consented; final decision due late 2026 (Jul 2026)
Stratford campus	Contact Energy and CDC	Taranaki	250	Concept study (Aug 2026)
Hobsonville Campus One and Two	CDC Data Centres	Auckland	76	Operating (2026)
Silverdale Campus One	CDC Data Centres	Auckland	60	22 MW operating, growing (2026)
Takanini and North Shore campuses	TenPeaks Data Centres	Auckland	75	Expansion planned (Jan 2026)
AKL01 and AKL02	DCI Data Centers	Westgate and Albany	50	AKL01 operating; AKL02 building
AK1	NEXTDC	Auckland	15	Planned
East Tamaki hall	Datacom	Auckland	8	Acquired for AI upgrade (Apr 2026)

The two non-Auckland campuses hold 610 MW, 68% of the tracked total, which is the main reason DC Market Insights expects Auckland’s share of AI hall spend to fall from 80% in 2025 to 57% in 2035. The modelled 2026-2030 completions of 277 MW of new IT capacity, 127.70 MW of it AI, equal about 31% of the tracked pipeline, so the base case does not assume every project is built.

Regional Insights: Which New Zealand Region Leads AI Data Center Spend?

Auckland leads with 80.00% of 2025 spend, USD 154.83 million, and Southland and Otago grows fastest at 38.65% a year.

Region	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Auckland	154.83	80.00%	482.68	12.04%
Wellington	11.61	6.00%	42.34	13.81%
Canterbury	13.55	7.00%	59.28	15.91%
Waikato and Taranaki	7.74	4.00%	110.08	30.40%
Southland and Otago	5.81	3.00%	152.43	38.65%

Auckland

The Auckland region’s USD 154.83 million in 2025 rests on the AWS and Microsoft regions and on CDC’s Hobsonville campuses, the largest single location at USD 58.06 million. Its spend grows 12.04% a year to USD 482.68 million, more in money than any other region, though its share falls to 57%.

Southland and Otago

Invercargill and Makarewa grow from USD 3.87 million in 2025 to USD 135.49 million in 2035, 42.70% a year, the fastest location, as Datagrid’s 360 MW campus takes power through a Transpower substation planned for late 2027, as trade press reported.

Waikato and Taranaki

The central North Island rises from USD 7.74 million to USD 110.08 million, 30.40% a year, with Datacom’s Kapua site in Hamilton and the Stratford concept beside Contact’s former gas plant.

Canterbury

The Christchurch area holds USD 13.55 million in 2025, mostly Christchurch halls serving South Island enterprises and backup for Auckland, growing 15.91% a year.

Wellington

The capital region holds USD 11.61 million in 2025, driven by government agencies that must keep sensitive AI workloads onshore under the Protective Security Requirements, and grows 13.81% a year.

Location Analysis: Which New Zealand Locations Carry the Most AI Hall Spend?

Hobsonville (Auckland) carries the most AI hall spend, USD 58.06 million in 2025, and Invercargill and Makarewa grows fastest at 42.70% a year.

Rank	Location	Region	2025 (USD million)	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
1	Hobsonville (Auckland)	Auckland	58.06	135.49	8.84%
2	Silverdale (Auckland)	Auckland	29.03	110.08	14.26%
3	Albany and North Shore (Auckland)	Auckland	25.16	84.68	12.90%
4	Takanini (Auckland)	Auckland	17.42	59.28	13.03%
5	Westgate (Auckland)	Auckland	13.55	50.81	14.13%
6	Christchurch	Canterbury	13.55	59.28	15.91%
7	East Tamaki (Auckland)	Auckland	11.61	42.34	13.81%
8	Wellington	Wellington	11.61	42.34	13.81%
9	Hamilton	Waikato and Taranaki	7.74	25.40	12.62%
10	Invercargill and Makarewa (Southland)	Southland and Otago	3.87	135.49	42.70%
11	Dunedin	Southland and Otago	1.94	16.94	24.22%
12	Stratford (Taranaki)	Waikato and Taranaki	0.00	84.68	new from 2028

The top six Auckland locations hold 80% of 2025 spend. Stratford enters from 2028 and reaches USD 84.68 million by 2035 if the Contact and CDC study leads to a build. More on Auckland’s colocation supply is in the New Zealand Data Center Colocation Market report.

Scenario Analysis: How Could the New Zealand AI Data Center Market Look in 2035?

The New Zealand AI Data Center Market reaches USD 846.81 million in 2035 in the base case, within a range of USD 598.14 million to USD 1.06 billion.

Scenario	2035 size	CAGR 2025-2035	Assumption from 2027
Low	USD 598.14 million	11.94%	New IT MW 25% lower, AI share 5 points lower (Stratford not built, Makarewa delayed)
Base	USD 846.81 million	15.91%	New IT MW 48 (2026) to 64 (2035), AI share 36% to 62%
High	USD 1.06 billion	18.50%	New IT MW 20% higher, prices 5% higher (Makarewa and Stratford both at full size)

The swing factor is the Datagrid final investment decision due in late 2026: without it, Southland’s 2035 spend of USD 152.43 million would fall by more than half.

Key Players: Who Builds and Buys New Zealand’s AI Data Center Halls?

The top three buyers in the New Zealand AI data center market, CDC Data Centres, AWS and Microsoft, hold about 64% of 2025 spend by DC Market Insights estimates, measured by AI MW commissioned.

• CDC Data Centres (Infratil): about 28% of 2025 spend (DC Market Insights estimate); 98 MW operating in Auckland in March 2026 by Infratil’s FY2026 results, group EBITDAF of AUD 392.5 million
• Amazon Web Services: about 22% (DC Market Insights estimate); three availability zones opened 1 September 2025 (Source: AWS)
• Microsoft: about 14% (DC Market Insights estimate); New Zealand North region since December 2024 (Source: Microsoft Azure notice)
• TenPeaks Data Centres (Pacific Equity Partners and Spark): about 7% (DC Market Insights estimate); 23 MW at 11 sites (Source: Spark NZX release)
• DCI Data Centers: about 5% (DC Market Insights estimate); AKL01 10 MW, AKL02 Albany 40 MW, according to DCI
• Datacom: about 5% (DC Market Insights estimate); East Tamaki and Hamilton halls
• Datagrid NZ: Makarewa 360 MW, consented (Source: Mercury NZX release)
• Contact Energy: Stratford study with CDC (Source: Contact Energy NZX release)
• Mercury: 12.7% of Datagrid, 140 MW option (Source: Mercury NZX release)
• NEXTDC: AK1 Auckland, 15 MW planned, according to NEXTDC
• Google Cloud: New Zealand region announced in August 2022 (Source: Google Cloud)
• Catalyst Cloud: sovereign GPU cloud
• Schneider Electric: liquid cooling range launched in New Zealand in November 2025, as trade press reported
• Vertiv: power and thermal supplier
• Eaton: UPS and switchgear supplier
• Transpower: grid connections for large loads

CDC’s lead rests on 76 MW at Hobsonville and the Silverdale campus that can grow to 60 MW or more. The rest of the market is split among about 10 smaller operators, so the top three leave about 36% to the rest; Datagrid would become the largest single site if it proceeds. Wider facility suppliers are covered in the New Zealand Data Center Infrastructure Market report.

Recent Developments: What Changed in New Zealand AI Data Centers Since 2025?

Six dated events in New Zealand AI data centers between August 2025 and August 2026 moved 610 MW of southern and Taranaki campus plans forward and opened New Zealand’s second hyperscale region.

• In August 2025, Spark agreed to sell 75% of its data center business to Pacific Equity Partners at an enterprise value of up to NZ$705 million (Source: Spark NZX release).
• In September 2025, AWS opened its Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region in Auckland with three availability zones (Source: AWS).
• In January 2026, Spark completed the sale and the business became TenPeaks Data Centres (Source: Spark NZX release).
• In March 2026, Datagrid’s Makarewa campus received resource consent and a 140 MW, 15-year power option from Mercury (Source: Mercury NZX release).
• In July 2026, Mercury bought 12.7% of Datagrid NZ for USD 30 million, with the project at 360 MW (Source: Mercury NZX release).
• In August 2026, Contact Energy and CDC announced a study of a 250 MW IT data center at Stratford (Source: Contact Energy NZX release).

Methodology: How the Model Values the New Zealand AI Data Center Market

DC Market Insights built the New Zealand AI Data Center Market from 16 yearly capacity cohorts (2020-2035) and 8 named projects, with every split summing to the total.

The 2025 receipt: 12.60 AI MW × USD 14.20 million = USD 178.92 million, plus 2 MW of retrofits × USD 4.60 million = USD 9.20 million, plus 15.93 MW installed × USD 0.34 million = USD 5.41 million, for USD 193.53 million. New IT capacity follows 28 MW (2024), 42 MW (2025), 48 MW (2026), 62 MW (2030) and 64 MW (2035), against a national base of 104 MW deployed in September 2025 by the NZTech industry survey; the AI share rises from 30% to 62%. Three bound checks:

• Ceiling 1: installed AI capacity of 170.14 MW in 2030 at 60% load and a PUE of 1.3 uses about 1.16 TWh, 65% of MBIE’s 1.8 TWh reference data center demand for 2030 and 25% of its 4.6 TWh high case.
• Ceiling 2: 2025-2026 spend of USD 466.99 million is about 6% of the roughly USD 8.12 billion (NZ$14 billion) announced by AWS, Datagrid and TenPeaks.
• Floor: modelled new AI capacity of 36.04 MW in 2024-2026 is above 30% of the roughly 70 MW CDC added in Auckland between January 2025 and March 2026 (21 MW), by Infratil’s reports.

New Zealand dollars are converted at USD 0.58. The full method is on the research methodology page.