AI adoption in Australia projected to reach 80% by 2025, driving $60 billion data centre boom
Oxford Economics predicts Australian AI adoption will jump from 30% to 80% within a decade, sparking massive infrastructure investment. Meanwhile, Kenya launched the NBO2 data centre to solidify its position as East Africa's digital hub.
AI adoption in Australia is predicted to accelerate rapidly over the next decade, creating significant demand for data centres and employment. Harry Murphy Cruise, head of economic research and global trade at Oxford Economics, stated that adoption rates will jump to around 50 per cent within the next ten years. He added that the figure will top out at approximately 80 per cent by 2025. This surge is being led by United States firms, where roughly 30 per cent of companies subscribe to market leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic for services such as ChatGPT or Claude. Other regional nations, including Japan, China, and India, are pursuing AI adoption at a slower pace than Australia. Separately, Kenya strengthened its bid to become East Africa's leading digital hub by launching the NBO2 data centre in Nairobi. Operated by Digital Realty after acquiring iColo, the facility offers secure and scalable environments for cloud providers, financial institutions, and internet service providers. Principal Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy John Tanui emphasized that policy work continues to unlock opportunities for young Kenyans in this fast-growing digital economy.
