NextDC plans to build a $2-billion next-generation digital campus at Fishermans Bend, solidifying Melbourne as a global key data centre growth zone, have moved ahead.
The M4 project had now won support from the Victorian Government to build on the 2.64ha site at 127 Todd Road, Port Melbourne.
Plans were filed in January, 15 months after NextDC completed its M3 facility at West Footscray, which followed on from the M1 at Port Melbourne and M2 at Tullamarine.
The M4 would replace the former Westgate Park Printing Complex, once home to one of the nation’s largest newspaper presses, operated by News Corp.
The M4 facility will include a so-called AI factory, mission critical operations centre and technology centre of excellence.
It will include up to 150mW of power across 50,000sq m of mission-critical facilities and liquid cooling facilities supporting rack densities exceeding 1000kW.
There will also be waste heat recovery for energy reuse, onsite solar and microgrids as well as recycled wastewater cooling.
Victoria’s tech sector contributes more than $34 billion to the state’s economy and supports more than 306,000 workers—accounting for 30 per cent of Australia’s tech workforce.
NextDC chief executive Craig Scroggie said that just as electricity powered the industrial age, sovereign AI infrastructure would power the next age.
“M4 has been designed to meet the five critical imperatives for Australia’s AI future—speed, scale, sovereign capability, sustainability and security,” Scroggie said.
“Precincts matter. They create the gravitational pull for investment, innovation and talent.
“By anchoring M4 at Fishermans Bend, we’re activating a nationally integrated ecosystem for industrial AI, defence, research and deep tech.”
Traditionally viewed as a secondary market to Sydney, Melbourne is rising as a key data centre hub as power availability becomes increasingly difficult in Sydney and land scarcity intensifies.
The global data centre market is projected to reach $US4 trillion by 2030, with an 18 per cent compound annual growth rate, according to Knight Frank research.
The Global Data Centres Report 2025 found Australia was the second top investment location for capital last year behind the US.
The NextDC chief executive said M4 Melbourne was critical infrastructure for Australia’s AI future.
“AI factories are a new class of infrastructure, purpose-built for the industrial-scale production of tokens,” Scroggie said.
“M4 is a generational investment in capability, resilience and sovereign leadership—the infrastructure that will underpin Australia’s economic competitiveness in the fourth industrial revolution.”
M4 will anchor the Fishermans Bend Innovation Precinct—a nationally strategic hub for advanced manufacturing, aerospace, sovereign defence and deep tech.
The precinct was seeded by an investment of almost $180 million by the State Government and projected to support up to 30,000 STEM jobs by 2051.
It will also include the University of Melbourne’s new Engineering and Design campus.
