NextDC has received 'Development Approval' from the Victorian Government for its upcoming M4 campus in Melbourne, Australia.

NextDC's CEO and MD, Craig Scroggie, revealed the milestone in a post to LinkedIn late last week.

As revealed in June 2025, the company plans to invest some AU$2 billion (US$1.29bn) in the campus at 127 Todd Road in Port Melbourne. It will offer 150MW of capacity, and span 50,000 sqm (538,195 sq ft) of data center floorspace.

The site is planned to host an AI Factory: a liquid-cooled facility engineered for sovereign AI. NextDC said the factory will be designed to support Nvidia Blackwell and Rubin Ultra GPUs and offer rack densities beyond 1,000kW.

Commenting on the newly received approval, premier of Victoria State, Jacinta Allan, said: “We’re open for business, and we’re backing Victorians every step of the way. This major investment means more jobs and training for the next generation of tech workers.”

Minister Danny Pearson added: “This project will create high-skilled jobs for Victorians and lay the groundwork to support future developments in advanced manufacturing and defense.”

NextDC acquired the land in Melbourne back in 2023, and news that the company was in the planning phase for a new facility surfaced in January. Phase 1 is set to offer around 10MW, according to a previous end-of-year results presentation.

Currently, NextDC operates three data centers in Melbourne. The 3,000-rack M1, also located in Port Melbourne, went live in 2012 and offers 15MW across 6,000 sqm (64,583 sq ft); M2 went live in 2017, offering 60MW across 25,000 sqm (296,098 sq ft); and M3 launched in 2022, offering 150MW across 40,000 sqm (430,556 sq ft).

The company has, in recent months, signed some major data center deals. In September, the company revealed it was seeking a partner for an 850MW data center JV in Sydney, Australia. The company has also been selected by OpenAI to provide a 550MW data center in Australia under the Stargate project, and in November signed a 50MW lease with Sharon AI.

Other operators present in Melbourne include Equinix, AirTrunk, Digital Realty, Microsoft, Amazon, Stack, CDC, Telstra, and others.