Abandoned data centre land: Microsoft and Amazon hit by use-it-or-lose-it deadlines

The Datagrid “AI factory” planned for Southland – first announced in 2020 and put at $5.1b in promotional material, still needs Transpower consent, funding, and a cable partner (after Chorus pulled out, citing a lack of anchor customers). As of this week, national grid operator Transpower remains in an “investigation phase”.

Spark’s huge “surf park” data centre – first announced in 2023 and consented the following year, remains on the drawing board.

The telco said it needed to raise more than $1b for data centre expansion. It secured the bulk of it by selling 75% of its data centre business to Australian firm Private Equity Partners, with a company called TenPeaks (25% owned by Spark, 75% by PEP) formed as a…