Status: Under Construction / Master DevelopmentA | Location: 49-Hectare Site, Makarewa, Invercargill, Southland 9876, New Zealand
The Datagrid AI Factory located in Makarewa near Invercargill in New Zealand’s Southland region represents a major digital infrastructure development designed to establish a large-scale artificial intelligence supercomputing platform in the Southern Hemisphere. Master planned across approximately 49 hectares, the campus is designed to provide up to 280 megawatts of gross utility capacity and approximately 240 megawatts of critical IT load across modular powered-shell facilities. The development is engineered to accommodate high-density GPU clusters supporting global AI model training, large language model processing, machine learning applications, high-performance computing, and enterprise cloud operations. Electrical infrastructure is centered on a dedicated 220 kV Grid Exit Point substation connected to Transpower’s national transmission network, providing access to New Zealand’s predominantly renewable electricity system. The energy strategy is further supported by a long-term power purchase arrangement involving Mercury NZ, while resilient operations are maintained through modular static uninterruptible power supply systems, redundant electrical distribution, and emergency backup generation. The campus also benefits from Southland’s naturally cool climate, which can significantly reduce mechanical cooling requirements compared with warmer data center markets. Free-air cooling is combined with advanced direct-to-chip liquid cooling infrastructure to efficiently manage the substantial thermal loads generated by high-density AI computing equipment while improving overall energy efficiency. Connectivity is another strategic advantage, with the Makarewa facility positioned to connect with the Tasman Ring subsea cable network landing at Oreti Beach, providing low-latency communication routes between New Zealand’s South Island, Australia, and wider international digital infrastructure corridors. By combining renewable-energy access, a cool operating environment, high-density AI infrastructure, advanced cooling technologies, and strategic subsea connectivity, the Datagrid AI Factory is positioned as a significant emerging computing hub for New Zealand and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Project Name | Datagrid AI Factory Southland New Zealand 280MW Hyperscale Campus |
| Location | 49-Hectare Site, Makarewa, Invercargill, Southland 9876, New Zealand |
| Status | Under Construction / Master DevelopmentA |
| Project Type | Sovereign & Global AI Factory Campus, High-Density Supercomputing Hub & Subsea Gateway |
| Commissioning | 🔒 Subscriber Intelligence |
| Total IT Load | 🔒 Subscriber Intelligence |
| Total Capacity | 🔒 Subscriber Intelligence |
| Tier Level | 🔒 Subscriber Intelligence |
| Header | Details |
|---|---|
| City Name | Makarewa |
| Population | Small locality; separate current population is not reliably reported |
| Urban Agglomeration | Part of the wider Invercargill urban area |
| Economic Profile | 🔒 Detailed city intelligence available to subscribers |
Developer, operator, infrastructure partners, contractors and engineering.
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