Microsoft has announced what it says is its largest investment in Australia to date, committing A$25 billion (US$18 billion) by the end of 2029 for new digital infrastructure, expanded cyber security collaboration with federal agencies, and a major AI skills program.
The announcement was made in Sydney on 23 April alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, during Nadella’s visit for the company’s global AI Tour.
Microsoft said the investment will significantly expand its Azure AI “supercomputing and cloud infrastructure” in Australia, including deploying advanced AI processors and increasing its local footprint by more than 140% by 2029. The company said the expansion is intended to increase in-country capacity, resilience and security for Australian organisations using its cloud services.
The company also said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian Government tied to the Government’s “Expectations for Data Centres and AI Infrastructure Developers”, which set out five national priorities including clean energy transition, sustainable water use, Australian skills and jobs, and strengthening local research and innovation. Microsoft said it will collaborate with the newly established Australian AI Safety Institute to support monitoring, testing and evaluation of advanced AI systems, including work on human-AI interaction risks in companion chatbots and conversational AI.
On cyber security, Microsoft said it will expand the Microsoft–Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Shield (MACS) partnership established in 2023, extending coverage to additional federal agencies and deepening collaboration with the Australian Signals Directorate, the Department of Home Affairs and the Digital Transformation Agency. Microsoft said the program has secured more than 38,000 government accounts, identified 35 previously unknown vulnerabilities, and delivered an engineering solution involving Microsoft Sentinel to support integration with the Government’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing program.
Microsoft and the Federal Government also agreed to collaborate on what the company described as a shared approach to public-private cooperation to strengthen Australia’s national and economic resilience, with priority areas including connectivity, data centre and hyperscale cloud infrastructure resilience.
In workforce skilling, Microsoft said it will train three million Australians with “workforce-ready AI skills” by 2028. The company said the commitment builds on a previous goal to skill one million people across Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2025, which it said was achieved early.
The skills program includes the launch in Australia of Microsoft Elevate for Educators, a free program aimed at helping teachers and school leaders use AI responsibly, and Microsoft Elevate for Changemakers for nonprofit and social impact leaders. Microsoft also said it has partnered with youth platform Anyway (formerly Year13) to bring a free AI-powered career coach to up to 1,000 Australian schools.
In a statement included with the announcement, Albanese said: “Microsoft’s long-term investment in our national capability will help deliver on that plan – strengthening our cyber defences and creating opportunity for Australian workers and businesses.” Nadella said: “That is why we are making our largest investment in Australia to date, committing A$25 billion to expand AI and cloud capacity, strengthen cybersecurity, and expand access to digital skills across the country.”
The announcement follows Microsoft’s A$5 billion investment announced in October 2023, which the company said expanded its Australian data centre presence to 29 sites across three Azure regions, established the Microsoft-ASD Cyber Shield, and provided more than one million Australians with digital and AI skills.
Microsoft also cited analysis it commissioned with EY-Parthenon estimating that in the 2025 financial year Microsoft contributed $36 billion to Australian GDP and supported the equivalent of more than 186,000 full-time jobs through its ecosystem.
