Centuria rides data boom launching AI factory with ResetData

Centuria and ResetData will launch the nation’s first sovereign AI factory later this year, leveraging Nvidia chips to provide AI capabilities at a fraction of other players’ cost.

ResetData co-chief executives Marcell Zallous and Bass Salah and Centuria co-chief executives Jason Huljich and John McBain.

Centuria and ResetData will launch the nation’s first sovereign AI factory in Melbourne later this year, leveraging Nvidia chips to provide AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost of other players in the market.

The real estate funds manager has made its first major stride into the technology infrastructure market, following its acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in ResetData for $US21m ($33.44m) in August last year.

Its upcoming AI factory, a 1.25 megawatt facility in Melbourne’s docklands called AI-F1, will house what the company describes as an AI supercomputer, able to provide the processing power to run Nvidia-certified AI models.

The factory, which is just 600sq m in size, and sits within a 20,000sq m building, will house a cluster of NVIDIA H200 GPU chips cooled by ResetData’s liquid immersion cooling technology, which dips the entire server into a form of liquid shown to be as much as 45 per cent more efficient than traditional air cooling and liquid-to-chip cooling technology.

ResetData will also launch an AI marketplace which allows Australian businesses and governments to source and use AI models, including models certified by Nvidia as well as models from Meta’s Llama, starting from $3000 per month.

John McBain, co-chief executive of Centuria, said the company had been looking for ways to diversify, particularly in the technology market, since Covid.

That period was a “shock” he said, where Centuria realised it needed to branch out from being just a landlord.

“I think that investors demand more and more growth and one way to grow is to clip on other things that are real estate-based,” he said.

ResetData co-chief executive Bass Salah said he believed the new AI factory would democratise access to AI models in Australia.

“Our AI Factories will transform the competitive landscape for Australian businesses. Access to this technology was previously limited to a small number of private GPU clusters,” he said. “At launch, our fast-growing range of AI solutions will serve accounting, legal, retail, technology and engineering teams.”

ResetData said its infrastructure resulted in 40 per cent lower costs and 45 per cent fewer emissions, with less power consumed and zero wastewater through its continuous cycle cooling system.

Centuria had been considering how it would nab a place in the booming artificial intelligence infrastructure market since Covid, watching as other players including Goodman — which has begun to convert some of its global industrial warehouse portfolio into data centres — did, said co-chief executive Jason Huljich.

The deal with ResetData seemed to make sense, he said, and would allow the company to compete without having to go up against the major hyperscalers.

The real estate funds manager analysed its portfolio and found it had about 12 properties which could be converted into AI factories. The largest considerations were around location and access to power.

For now, it has a pipeline of four AI factories, including in Sydney, Perth and in Queensland, with the majority of properties already part of its portfolio.

Mr McBain said Centuria was expecting to see a return on the investment in the AI factory in fiscal 2026.

Originally published as Centuria rides data boom launching AI factory with ResetData