Australia Data Center Storage Market Size, Share & Forecast to 2035

The Australia Data Center Storage Market is valued at USD 742.34 million in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 2.16 billion by 2035, up from USD 600.77 million in 2025, a CAGR of 13.66% from 2025 to 2035 (DC Market Insights estimate). Two things move the money in Australian storage: the installed data center base, which DC Market Insights puts at about 1,571 MW of IT capacity at the end of 2025 against roughly 566 MW in 2020, and the shift of new halls to GPU clusters, which buy high-throughput flash at about USD 1.10 million per megawatt (MW) of AI capacity. The 2025 build receipt is 1,427 MW of average installed capacity × USD 0.34 million of storage spend per MW-year = USD 485.27 million, plus 105 MW of new AI capacity × USD 1.10 million = USD 115.50 million. Sovereignty rules add a third lever: federal agencies must keep classified and sensitive data in facilities certified under the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) Hosting Certification Framework, which keeps government arrays onshore in Canberra and Sydney rather than in offshore cloud regions. Object storage grows fastest at 17.92% a year, and Queensland is the fastest region at 19.13% as Brisbane campuses add AI capacity.

How Much Do Australian Data Centers Spend on Storage in 2026?

Australian data centers will spend USD 742.34 million on storage systems, storage software and storage services in 2026, 23.56% more than the USD 600.8 million of 2025, DC Market Insights estimates.

• Market size 2025: USD 600.77 million
• Market size 2026: USD 742.34 million
• Market size 2030: USD 1.44 billion
• Market size 2035: USD 2.16 billion
• CAGR 2025-2035: 13.66% (low case 10.50%, high case 16.50%)
• Largest storage type: All-Flash Arrays, 52% of 2025 value
• Fastest architecture: Object Storage, 17.92% CAGR
• Leading region: New South Wales, 62% of 2025 value; fastest region: Queensland, 19.13% CAGR
• Largest location: Western Sydney (Eastern Creek and Kemps Creek), USD 180.24 million in 2025
• Market leaders: Dell Technologies, NetApp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), about 47% of external array spend together (DC Market Insights estimate)

Key Takeaways: What Should Storage Buyers in Australia Know?

• All-flash arrays take 52% of 2025 spend and reach 68% by 2035 because AI training halls cannot feed graphics processing units (GPUs) from disk.
• Object storage grows 17.92% a year because model checkpoints, video and backup copies move to S3-compatible capacity tiers.
• Victoria rises from 27% to 32.8% of value by 2035 because Melbourne West campuses add capacity faster than inner Sydney.
• On-premises enterprise storage grows only 8.0% a year because enterprises move arrays into colocation halls and public cloud.

Executive Summary: Australia Data Center Storage Market Size, 2020-2035

The Australia Data Center Storage Market size was valued at USD 210.40 million in 2020, reached USD 600.77 million in 2025, and is anticipated to reach USD 2.16 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 13.66% during the forecast period. Growth from 2020 to 2025 ran at 23.35% a year because the installed base almost tripled while AI halls started buying flash in bulk.

Attribute	Detail
Historical period	2020-2024
Base year	2025
Forecast period	2026-2035
Market size 2025	USD 600.77 million
Market size 2026	USD 742.34 million
CAGR 2025-2035	13.66%
Market size 2035	USD 2.16 billion

DC Market Insights values installed-base storage refresh and expansion at USD 485.27 million in 2025 and AI cluster storage at USD 115.50 million; by 2035 the two lines reach USD 1.72 billion and USD 438.96 million. The per-megawatt storage rate falls from USD 0.40 million in 2020 to USD 0.25 million in 2035 because each new rack carries more compute power per terabyte stored.

What Does Data Center Storage Cover in Australia?

Australia Data Center Storage covers the storage arrays, file and object systems, tape libraries, storage software and storage support bought for data center halls located in Australia, worth USD 600.77 million in 2025.

Included: all-flash and hybrid arrays, HDD-based systems, tape and archive libraries, Storage Area Network (SAN), Network-Attached Storage (NAS) and scale-out file systems, object storage, direct-attached and hyperconverged storage nodes, storage software (data protection, replication, tiering) and vendor or partner support. Storage that hyperscale and cloud providers build for their own Australian regions is counted at its hardware and software value.

Excluded: servers, networking, power and cooling (covered in the Australia Data Center Infrastructure Market), cloud storage subscription revenue, endpoint and personal storage, and electricity. The Australia Data Center Market is the parent report: it counts storage as one line of total spend, while this edition breaks that line out by storage type, architecture, component, end user and location.

How the segments fit together: each of the four segment dimensions, the five regions and the 12 locations sums to the market total in every year from 2020 to 2035.

Why Do Australia Data Center Storage Market Estimates Differ?

DC Market Insights puts the Australia Data Center Storage Market at USD 742.34 million in 2026; the previous DC Market Insights edition put 2025 at USD 3.73 billion because it counted servers attached to storage and cloud storage revenue. Broader definitions also add consumer and enterprise endpoint storage, storage-as-a-service subscriptions and the data center building space used by storage halls. This edition keeps only storage equipment, software and support bought for data center halls.

Element	In this report	Why
Storage arrays and file and object systems	Yes (USD 600.77 million total market 2025)	Core purchase
Storage software and support	Yes (USD 204.26 million in 2025)	Bought with the arrays
Cloud storage subscriptions	No	Service revenue, not equipment
Servers, network, power	No	Covered by sibling reports
Endpoint and personal storage	No	Not data center equipment

Small and mid-sized enterprises are in scope when they place arrays in colocation halls; their spend sits in the Colocation-Hosted Enterprises segment.

Market Drivers: Why Is Australian Data Center Storage Spending Rising?

Australian data center storage spending rises 13.66% a year to 2035 because capacity under contract is tripling, sovereign-data rules keep government data onshore and AI halls buy flash in bulk.

NEXTDC’s contracted capacity tripled to 740.1 MW in FY2026

NEXTDC reported in its FY2026 results of 27 August 2026 that pro forma contracted utilisation tripled to 740.1 MW, with 175.0 MW billing and 287.9 MW built (NEXTDC FY2026 results). Every billed megawatt of tenant IT brings storage purchases: at USD 0.34 million per MW-year, the 175.0 MW billing alone supports about USD 59.5 million of tenant storage spend a year (DC Market Insights estimate). The 565 MW gap between contracted and billing capacity is storage demand that arrives as tenants fit out between 2027 and 2030.

The Hosting Certification Framework keeps government arrays onshore

The Hosting Certification Framework published by the Digital Transformation Agency in March 2021 requires Australian Government data classified up to PROTECTED to sit in facilities with Certified Assured or Certified Strategic status. DC Market Insights estimates that Government and Defence buyers account for 12% of data center storage spend in 2025 and grow 11.61% a year to 2035 as agencies replace arrays in certified Canberra and Sydney halls rather than move them offshore.

Amazon’s AU$20 billion plan brings AI-scale storage halls to Sydney and Melbourne

Amazon announced on 14 June 2025 that it plans to invest AU$20 billion from 2025 to 2029 in Australian data center infrastructure (Amazon announcement). DC Market Insights counts AI cluster storage at USD 115.50 million in 2025, rising to USD 369.88 million by 2030, because AI capacity rises from 35% of new megawatts in 2025 to 60% in 2030 and each AI megawatt needs about USD 1.10 million of high-throughput flash and parallel file systems.

Market Trends: How Is Australian Data Center Storage Changing?

Flash is replacing disk and object storage is replacing file shares: all-flash arrays rise from 52% of 2025 spend to 68% by 2035, DC Market Insights estimates.

Flash takes the primary tier

NetApp reported on 25 February 2026 that its all-flash array revenue grew 11% year on year to a record USD 1.0 billion in its fiscal third quarter, an annualised run rate of USD 4.2 billion (NetApp fiscal Q3 2026 results). In Australia, DC Market Insights puts all-flash arrays at 52% of 2025 spend and 68% by 2035, a 16.75% CAGR, while HDD-based systems grow only 7.17%.

Object storage becomes the capacity tier for AI and backup

Object storage rises from 18% of 2025 spend to 26% by 2035 (17.92% a year) because model checkpoints, media archives and immutable backup copies need S3-compatible capacity at a lower cost per terabyte than block storage. The Australian Signals Directorate’s Essential Eight, which lists regular backups as one of its eight controls, pushes agencies and listed companies toward immutable copies that object platforms provide.

Market Challenges: What Holds Back Australian Data Center Storage Spending?

Grid connection limits and falling cost per terabyte hold growth to 13.66% a year rather than the 23.35% seen from 2020 to 2025.

Grid connections delay the halls that would hold the arrays

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reported in its 2026 Electricity Statement of Opportunities that 225 data centers with 67 gigawatts (GW) of combined capacity are in development, against about 5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of data center consumption in FY2026 (AEMO 2026 data centre forecasting overview). Only part of that pipeline will connect before 2030, so DC Market Insights limits new IT capacity to 620 MW in 2030 and 740 MW in 2035, which keeps AI storage near one fifth (20%) of 2035 spend.

Cost per terabyte keeps falling

Storage spend per installed megawatt falls from USD 0.40 million a year in 2020 to USD 0.34 million in 2025 and USD 0.25 million by 2035 in the DC Market Insights model, a 3.0% annual decline after 2025, because data reduction, denser flash modules and higher compute density per rack mean each megawatt of IT needs fewer storage dollars.

Market Opportunities: Where Can Storage Suppliers Win in Australia?

The two largest openings are AI cluster storage in Western Sydney and Melbourne West and sovereign storage for government and regulated industries, together about 30% of 2035 spend on DC Market Insights estimates.

AI cluster storage in Western Sydney and Melbourne West

Western Sydney (Eastern Creek and Kemps Creek) and Melbourne West (Derrimut and Truganina) account for 47% of 2025 storage spend and 54% by 2035. NEXTDC and OpenAI signed a non-binding memorandum on 5 December 2025 for the S7 Eastern Creek campus, with a first phase due in the second half of 2027 (Source: NEXTDC ASX announcement).

Sovereign storage for regulated buyers

Banks and insurers regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) must meet Prudential Standard CPS 230 on operational risk, in force since 1 July 2025, which raises demand for replicated, onshore storage. DC Market Insights estimates that colocation-hosted enterprises, where most regulated buyers sit, hold 22% of 2025 spend and grow 12.58% a year.

How Much Does Data Center Storage Cost per Megawatt in Australia?

Australian data centers spend about USD 0.34 million on storage per installed megawatt each year in 2025, plus about USD 1.10 million one-off per megawatt of new AI capacity, DC Market Insights estimates.

Year	Installed-base storage (USD million per MW-year)	AI cluster storage (USD million per new AI MW)
2020	0.40	1.22
2025	0.34	1.10
2030	0.29	0.99
2035	0.25	0.90

Public anchors: NetApp’s record USD 1.0 billion all-flash quarter (February 2026) and NEXTDC’s FY2026 capital expenditure of AU$3.40 billion (Source: NEXTDC FY2026 results) frame the supply and the halls the arrays go into. The per-megawatt rates are DC Market Insights estimates; vendors do not publish Australian price lists.

Which Rules Shape Data Center Storage in Australia?

Five rules shape where and how USD 600.77 million of Australian data center storage is bought in 2025:

• Hosting Certification Framework (Digital Transformation Agency, March 2021): government data must sit in Certified Assured or Certified Strategic facilities.
• Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, as amended in 2021 and 2022 (Department of Home Affairs): data storage or processing assets are critical infrastructure assets with risk-management duties.
• Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Parliament of Australia, December 2024): stronger penalties raise the cost of breaches of stored personal data.
• APRA Prudential Standards CPS 234 (information security, July 2019) and CPS 230 (operational risk, July 2025): regulated entities must keep tested, resilient copies of critical data.
• National Expectations for Data Centres and AI Infrastructure (Department of Industry, Science and Resources, 23 March 2026): new halls should add clean generation or storage and minimise water use.

Which Storage Type Leads the Australia Data Center Storage Market?

All-Flash Arrays lead with USD 312.40 million, 52% of 2025 spend, and Object Storage is the fastest architecture at 17.92% a year.

By Storage Type

Segment	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
All-Flash Arrays	312.40	52%	1,469.65	16.75%
Hybrid Flash Arrays	144.18	24%	345.80	9.14%
HDD-Based Systems	108.14	18%	216.13	7.17%
Tape and Archive Libraries	36.05	6%	129.68	13.66%

By Architecture

Segment	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Storage Area Network (SAN)	204.26	34%	518.70	9.77%
Network-Attached and Scale-Out File	156.20	26%	605.15	14.5%
Object Storage	108.14	18%	561.93	17.92%
Direct-Attached and Hyperconverged	132.17	22%	475.48	13.66%

By Component

Segment	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Hardware	396.51	66%	1,296.75	12.58%
Storage Software	108.14	18%	475.48	15.96%
Support and Managed Services	96.12	16%	389.03	15.01%

By End User

Segment	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Hyperscale and Cloud Providers	276.36	46%	1,253.53	16.32%
Colocation-Hosted Enterprises	132.17	22%	432.25	12.58%
On-Premises Enterprises	120.15	20%	259.35	8.0%
Government and Defence	72.09	12%	216.13	11.61%

DC Exclusive: The Australian Storage Cost-per-MW Teardown

The Australian Storage Cost-per-MW Teardown is a DC Market Insights model built on 7 inputs (installed and new IT capacity from the Australia Data Center Infrastructure model, AI share of new capacity, four hall-type storage rates and the AI flash rate); it shows that an AI training hall buys about 3.2 times the storage of a conventional hyperscale hall per megawatt in its first year.

Hall type	First-year storage (USD million per MW)	Run-rate storage (USD million per MW-year)	Main architecture
Enterprise and government hall	0.55	0.55	SAN and all-flash block
Retail colocation tenant	0.40	0.40	All-flash block and NAS
Hyperscale cloud hall	0.34	0.26	Direct-attached and object
AI training hall	1.10	0.18	Parallel file and all-flash
Weighted market average 2025	0.41	0.34	Mixed

The teardown explains the forecast shape: as AI halls take 60% of new capacity by 2030, first-year storage per new megawatt stays high, while run-rate spend per installed megawatt falls because hyperscale and AI halls carry less storage per megawatt than enterprise rooms.

Which Australian States Lead Data Center Storage Spending?

New South Wales leads with USD 372.48 million in 2025 (62%), and Queensland grows fastest at 19.13% a year to 2035.

Region	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR
New South Wales	372.48	62%	1,102.24	11.46%
Victoria	162.21	27%	708.89	15.89%
Queensland	30.04	5%	172.90	19.13%
Western Australia	27.03	4.5%	129.68	16.98%
South Australia ACT Tasmania and Northern Territory	9.01	1.5%	47.55	18.1%

New South Wales

AEMO’s 2026 statement attributes 66% of FY2026 data center demand in the National Electricity Market to New South Wales, and DC Market Insights puts New South Wales at 51% of storage spend by 2035; the NSW draft Data Centre Policy Framework of 17 August 2026 promises 75-day assessments for qualifying projects (Source: Infrastructure NSW).

Victoria

Victorian data center demand averaged 187 MW in the first quarter of 2026, up 94% from 96 MW a year earlier (Source: AEMO Quarterly Energy Dynamics Q1 2026); Victoria’s storage spend grows 15.89% a year to 32.8% of the market by 2035.

Queensland

Queensland is the fastest region at 19.13% a year, from 5% of spend in 2025 to 8% in 2035, because Brisbane campuses add AI capacity on cheaper land and grid connections than inner Sydney.

Western Australia

Western Australia sits outside the National Electricity Market on the South West Interconnected System; its storage spend rises from 4.5% to 6% of the market as Perth gains sovereign and mining-sector capacity.

South Australia, ACT, Tasmania and Northern Territory

These smaller markets total 1.5% of 2025 spend, led by certified government halls in Canberra, and grow 18.1% a year.

Where Is Australian Data Center Storage Bought, Location by Location?

Western Sydney (Eastern Creek and Kemps Creek) is the largest location at USD 180.24 million in 2025; Brisbane is the fastest large location at 19.13% a year.

Rank	Location	2025 (USD million)	2035 (USD million)	CAGR
1	Western Sydney (Eastern Creek and Kemps Creek)	180.24	648.37	13.66%
2	Melbourne West (Derrimut and Truganina)	102.13	514.38	17.55%
3	Macquarie Park	72.09	172.90	9.14%
4	Rest of New South Wales	66.09	172.90	10.09%
5	Sydney Inner South (Alexandria and Mascot)	54.07	108.06	7.17%
6	Melbourne Docklands and Port Melbourne	42.05	129.68	11.92%
7	Brisbane	30.04	172.90	19.13%
8	Perth	27.03	129.68	16.98%
9	Rest of Victoria	18.02	64.84	13.66%
10	Canberra	5.41	28.10	17.91%
11	Adelaide	2.40	12.97	18.38%
12	Hobart and Darwin	1.20	6.48	18.37%

Forecast Scenarios: How Large Could Australian Data Center Storage Be by 2035?

The Australia Data Center Storage Market reaches USD 2.16 billion by 2035 in the base case, between USD 1.63 billion in the low case and USD 2.77 billion in the high case.

Scenario	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035	Assumption
Low	1,630.54	10.50%	Grid delays hold new IT capacity near 500 MW a year
Base	2,161.26	13.66%	New IT capacity 620 MW in 2030, 740 MW in 2035
High	2,766.73	16.50%	AI share of new capacity above 75% from 2030

Key Players and Market Share: Who Supplies Data Center Storage in Australia?

Dell Technologies, NetApp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) hold about 47% of Australian external array spend together, DC Market Insights estimates from vendor installed-base counts and partner disclosures; hyperscale providers build most of their own storage from direct-attached nodes.

• Dell Technologies
• NetApp
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
• Pure Storage
• IBM
• Hitachi Vantara
• Lenovo
• Nutanix
• Western Digital
• Seagate Technology
• Quantum Corporation
• Cohesity
• Commvault
• Data#3 (reseller and integrator)

NetApp’s all-flash array revenue reached a record USD 1.0 billion in the quarter to January 2026 (Source: NetApp results). NEXTDC, Australia’s largest listed operator, reported 287.9 MW built at 30 June 2026 (Source: NEXTDC FY2026 results), and its tenants are the largest single pool of colocation-hosted storage buyers.

Recent Developments in Australian Data Center Storage

• In August 2026, NEXTDC reported pro forma contracted utilisation of 740.1 MW, three times the prior year (Source: NEXTDC FY2026 results).
• In August 2026, AEMO counted 225 data centers with 67 GW of capacity in development (Source: AEMO 2026 Electricity Statement of Opportunities).
• In March 2026, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources published the National Expectations for Data Centres and AI Infrastructure (Source: Department of Industry, Science and Resources).
• In February 2026, NetApp reported a record USD 1.0 billion all-flash array quarter (Source: NetApp).
• In December 2025, NEXTDC and OpenAI signed a non-binding memorandum for the S7 Eastern Creek campus (Source: NEXTDC ASX announcement).
• In June 2025, Amazon announced AU$20 billion of Australian data center investment for 2025-2029 (Source: Amazon).

Research Methodology: How the Model Sizes Australian Data Center Storage

DC Market Insights sizes the market bottom-up from 16 years of capacity data and 7 model inputs. Installed IT capacity starts at 450 MW at the end of 2019, adds 120 MW of new IT in 2020, 300 MW in 2025, 620 MW in 2030 and 740 MW in 2035, and retires 1% a year, giving 1,571 MW at the end of 2025 and 7,226 MW in 2035 (the same capacity series as the Australia Data Center Infrastructure model). Average installed MW × storage spend per MW-year (USD 0.40 million in 2020, 0.34 in 2025, 0.29 in 2030, 0.25 in 2035) gives the installed-base line; new MW × AI share (5% 2020, 35% 2025, 60% 2030, 66% 2035) × USD 1.10 million per AI MW (−2% a year) gives the AI line. Full method: research methodology.

Three bound checks: (1) ceiling: USD 600.77 million is 2.3% of the Data Center Storage Market of USD 26.17 billion in 2025, against Australia’s roughly 1.4% share of global installed capacity, a premium consistent with higher Australian labour and support costs; (2) ceiling: 2025 storage equals 23% of one year of Amazon’s AU$20 billion five-year plan at USD 0.65 per Australian dollar; (3) floor: NEXTDC’s 175.0 MW billing × USD 0.34 million = USD 59.5 million, about 10% of the market from one operator’s tenants. The United Kingdom Data Center Storage Market uses the same per-megawatt structure for comparison.