Key Takeaways Google is planning to build a major artificial intelligence data centre on Christmas Island following a cloud computing deal with Australia's Department of Defence signed in July 2025. T...
Google is planning to construct a large artificial intelligence data centre on Australia's remote Christmas Island territory, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with officials.
The project follows a three-year cloud services agreement signed between the tech giant and Australia's Department of Defence in July 2025.
The plans for the data centre on the tiny island, which spans just 135 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 1,600 people, have not been previously reported.
Many details, including the facility's projected size, cost, and specific applications, remain undisclosed. Neither Google nor Australia's Department of Defence provided comments on the project.
Christmas Island, positioned 350 kilometres south of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean, is gaining increasing attention from defence planners who view it as a critical monitoring post for Chinese submarine and naval movements in the region.
The island's location between Africa, Asia, and Australia provides both commercial and strategic advantages for the data centre project.
Bryan Clark, a former U.S. Navy strategist who led recent tabletop war games involving Australian, U.S., and Japanese militaries on Christmas Island, told Reuters that a forward command and control node on the island would be crucial in a crisis scenario.
"The data centre is partly to allow you to do the kinds of AI-enabled command and control that you need to do in the future, especially if you rely on uncrewed systems for surveillance missions and targeting missions and even engagements," said Clark, now a Hudson Institute fellow.
He added that subsea cables offer superior bandwidth and reliability compared to satellites, particularly as satellite communications could be jammed during a conflict.
"If you've got a data centre on Christmas, you can do a lot of that through cloud infrastructure," Clark explained.
Retired Navy Commodore Peter Leavy, who has been working to build community understanding of the island's defence role, emphasised the location's monitoring capabilities.
"Christmas Island is quite well positioned to at least monitor what is going through the Sunda Strait, Lombok Strait, and the Malacca Straits. It is a really good location," Leavy told Reuters.
Google is reportedly in advanced negotiations to lease land near Christmas Island's airport to construct the data hub.
The company is also working on securing energy supplies through an agreement with a local mining company, according to Christmas Island Shire officials and council meeting records.
In October 2025, Google applied for Australian environmental approvals to build the first subsea cable connecting Christmas Island to Darwin. In this northern Australian city, U.S. Marines are stationed for six months annually.
The cable installation will be carried out by SubCom, a U.S. company that serves as the exclusive undersea cable contractor to the U.S. military.
SubCom previously connected the U.S./UK military base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to a cable network stretching from Australia to Oman.
The cloud agreement between Google and Australia's defence department follows a similar pattern established with other major U.S. technology companies.
In July 2025, Australia's Department of Defence signed a $495 million deal with Microsoft for cloud computing services.
Britain's military also recently announced a comparable Google cloud agreement aimed at boosting intelligence sharing with the United States.
Christmas Island Shire President Steve Pereira stated that his administration is carefully examining the potential community impact of the proposed data centre before granting final construction approval.
The island currently relies on diesel power supplemented by limited renewable energy sources, and residents have expressed concerns about the facility's energy demands.
"We are a strategic asset for defence," Pereira said. "There are many industries on the island we have to protect, all of which will be closely considered for any new projects – whether it be defence or Google."
The project has generated mixed reactions among island residents. A recent war game involving the rapid deployment of an advanced U.S. HIMARS rocket system from Darwin drew protests from some residents concerned about the impact on tourism, while business owners expressed hope that increased defence activity could boost the local economy.
The proposed data centre could provide much-needed employment opportunities and infrastructure improvements for Christmas Island, which has historically struggled with poor telecommunications and limited job prospects.
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