Data centre investment drives new capital expenditure
Private new capital expenditure (capex) rose 6.5 per cent in the March quarter 2026 to be 14.6 per cent higher than the March quarter last year (seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures), according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics, said: ‘the lift in investment was the result of investment in data centre equipment, specifically server racks and processing equipment, significantly boosting overall investment figures.
‘This quarter’s rise builds on a similar spike in data centre investment recorded in the September quarter 2025.’
Non-mining business investment rose 8.8 per cent, while the mining industry was relatively unchanged.
Information media and telecommunications recorded the largest industry rise, up 96.1 percent, reaching a new record level.
New equipment and machinery investment is now at the highest level in the history of the series, up 18.1 per cent. This was driven by non-mining equipment and machinery (+20.1 per cent), specifically information media and telecommunications (+196.1 per cent).
Mining equipment and machinery (+7.2 per cent) also rose.
Capex was down 3.8 per cent for buildings and structures, with falls in non-mining (-4.3 per cent) and mining (-2.9 per cent) industries.
‘The fall in buildings and structures was driven by large projects reaching completion, particularly across manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and waste services and mining.’ Mr Lay said.
‘Despite the overall fall, investment in data centre building construction continues to grow with information media and telecommunications rising for the seventh straight quarter – up 12.6 per cent,’ Mr Lay said.
New South Wales (+22.1 per cent) and Victoria (+12.7 per cent), which is seeing the bulk of data centre investment, rose along with South Australia (+0.2 per cent).
All other states and territories recorded a fall.
This release includes the sixth estimate for planned capex in 2025-26. Businesses revised their expected capex for 2025-26 to be up by 4.5 per cent (in current prices) since their last estimate.
This release also includes the second estimate for planned capex in 2026-27. Businesses revised their expected capex for 2026-27 to be up by 9.9 per cent on the first estimate last quarter.
‘Business expectations on future capex increased, driven by continued investment in data centres,’ Mr Lay said.
Given the rapid growth in data centre investment, the ABS published a Data Centres in Economic Statistics article last quarter detailing data centre activity within the suite of ABS economic statistics.
More detailed industry and state analysis and further information on the statistical methodology is available in Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia.
The ABS gratefully acknowledges the contributions of businesses across Australia in providing data for this release.
Media notes
- New capital expenditure refers to the acquisition of new tangible assets and includes major improvements, alterations, and additions.
- All statistical figures in this media release are in seasonally adjusted volume terms unless otherwise noted.
- Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and removing seasonal effects to allow comparison of data for adjacent months. See methodology for more details.
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