The rapid growth of artificial intelligence has put data centres firmly on Australia’s infrastructure agenda.
Much of the discussion has focused on electricity demand, water, connectivity and the increasingly powerful computing hardware sitting inside these facilities. Less attention has been paid to another part of the equation: the critical minerals and materials required to build that physical infrastructure.
Critical minerals are used across many of the technologies that make data centres possible. Copper is fundamental to power networks and electrical equipment, while silicon and gallium are used in semiconductors and advanced electronics. Rare earth elements are used in high-performance permanent magnets, while lithium, graphite and nickel are important inputs to battery storage.
Australia has significant resources and geological potential across many of these materials, alongside strong renewable energy capacity and a rapidly expanding digital sector. These opportunities are usually discussed separately, yet the systems supporting them are becoming increasingly interconnected.
As investment grows, there is a case for looking at these industries together and thinking much further ahead about the energy, water, transport, digital infrastructure and communities that will support them.
Looking beyond the individual development
Major infrastructure rarely exists within the boundary of a single project.
A data centre may require substantial new electricity supply, water systems, transmission, storage, fibre and transport connections. Critical minerals and associated industries bring many of the same requirements, from energy and water to logistics, workforce and supporting services.
That overlap becomes particularly relevant in regional Australia, where many of the minerals used across digital and energy infrastructure are concentrated. Western Australia holds major lithium, nickel and rare earth resources, while the Northern Territory has significant lithium, graphite, manganese and rare earth potential. Both regions also have substantial renewable energy resources and growing industrial demand.
Digital infrastructure is becoming part of that demand picture too. Some forms of large-scale AI computing are less constrained by latency than traditional data centres serving highly latency-sensitive customers, creating greater flexibility around where they can be located.
This creates an opportunity to think more broadly about regional development. If several industries are likely to require significant power, water, transport and supporting capacity over the coming decades, planning for each independently can lead to duplicated assets, competing demands and decisions that serve one project but limit future options.
At TBH, our long history of working across complex, high-risk projects, programs and portfolios has repeatedly shown how these interdependencies play out in practice. Across the full project lifecycle, from front-end engineering design through to financial close and into delivery, we have seen how constraints around approvals, labour, logistics, procurement and engineering can compound, particularly in remote Australia. Decisions made early can either preserve or narrow the options available later.
A longer-term, more holistic view would give governments, communities and investors a clearer understanding of what a region may ultimately need, where requirements overlap and where shared assets could create wider value.
Planning these systems together
We are already seeing the data centre sector move in this direction. The Australian Government’s new Office of AI, alongside proposed standards addressing the energy and water demands of large data centres, reflects the growing recognition that digital growth needs to be considered within a much wider infrastructure picture.
As facilities become larger and more resource-intensive, the way their surrounding utilities are planned becomes increasingly important. In January 2026, TBH Directors Rob Hammond and Stuart Cassie introduced an integrated utility precinct model as one way of putting that broader approach into practice, considering the data centre alongside the energy, storage, water and other systems needed to support it.
Such an approach could have broader relevance in regions where critical minerals, renewable resources and future industrial demand coincide. Renewable generation and batteries could be considered alongside transmission, water recycling, digital infrastructure, transport and industrial facilities, with the mix shaped by the characteristics and long-term potential of each location. At the Northern Territory’s Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct near Darwin, for example, shared infrastructure is being master-planned to support critical minerals processing, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and other industrial uses.
This thinking could create significant advantages. Bringing major energy users closer to renewable generation could improve utilisation of new capacity, reduce some reliance on long-distance transmission and provide lower-carbon electricity for mineral and data processing. Shared roads, substations, water systems and other supporting assets could reduce duplication and serve multiple developments, while established energy and utility capacity can make a region more attractive to advanced manufacturing and other energy-intensive economic activity.
For Australia, that creates the potential to capture more value from its renewable resources, strengthen regional economies and improve its position as a destination for the industries driving future growth.
Building for the next generation
A more holistic approach also brings wider environmental impacts into view.
The environmental and social footprint of a major development extends well beyond the primary asset. Energy supply, water use, transmission corridors, roads, workforce requirements and associated development all contribute to its effect on the surrounding region. Bringing these wider considerations into earlier planning creates more scope to manage growth responsibly.
For regional and remote communities, that includes considering whether new energy, water, transport or communications assets can provide wider utility. It means thinking about local employment, skills and business opportunities, as well as how Traditional Owners and Indigenous communities can participate in decisions that affect Country and share in the long-term economic value created around it.
Many of the assets being planned today may remain in place for generations. Their value should therefore be considered in terms of what they enable over their full life: which industries they can support, whether they strengthen regional capability and what remains useful to communities as projects and technologies change.
Critical minerals, renewable energy and digital infrastructure will all play an important role in Australia’s future economy. Where their needs and geographic advantages align, considering them together can support more productive use of energy and shared assets, stronger investment conditions and more sustainable regional development.
How these regions are planned and developed today will shape the opportunities they are able to sustain over time. Planning with that future in mind gives Australia a better chance to create value that lasts well beyond the assets being built today.