On Thursday, Reuters reported that Google is planning to build a large AI data center on Christmas Island, a 52-square-mile Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, following a cloud computing deal with Australia’s military. The report positions the facility as advanced AI infrastructure at a location military strategists consider critical for monitoring Chinese naval activity. However, Google has denied these claims, telling Ars Technica the project is actually about subsea cables, not AI data centers.
“We are not constructing ‘a large artificial intelligence data centre’ on Christmas Island,” a Google spokesperson told Ars. “This is a continuation of our Australia Connect work to deliver subsea cable infrastructure, and we look forward to sharing more soon.”
Despite the denial, Reuters has not retracted its story and says it has reviewed documents about Google’s data center plans on the island. What Google has publicly confirmed is that in November 2024, the company announced the Australia Connect initiative, which focuses on subsea cable infrastructure to improve digital connectivity across the Indo-Pacific region.