A drone view shows red crabs walking across a road in Christmas Island, Australia, October 2025, in this screen grab obtained from a video.
Details on the planned facility, including its size, cost, and specific uses, remain largely undisclosed. However, military analysts note that a data centre on Christmas Island would be strategically valuable, supporting surveillance and operational command capabilities in the Indian Ocean. The island is increasingly regarded as a key location for monitoring naval activity in the region.
Google is reportedly in advanced discussions to lease land near Christmas Island’s airport and has engaged a local mining company to secure energy supply for the facility, according to council records and local officials. Alphabet Inc.-owned Google declined to comment, while Australia’s Department of Defence also did not provide a statement.
Christmas Island has drawn attention in recent military exercises, including a tabletop war game involving Australia, the U.S., and Japan. The exercises highlighted the island’s potential as a forward operating site for uncrewed systems and command-and-control operations. Bryan Clark, a former U.S. Navy strategist and Hudson Institute fellow, explained: “The data centre is partly to allow you to do the kinds of AI-enabled command and control that you need to do in the future, especially if you rely on uncrewed systems for surveillance missions and targeting missions and even engagements.”
Clark also noted that subsea cables offer more reliable communication bandwidth compared to satellites, which could be disrupted in a crisis. “If you’ve got a data centre on Christmas, you can do a lot of that through cloud infrastructure,” he added.
In July, Australia’s defence department signed a three-year cloud agreement with Google. Similar deals have been announced by the UK military, aimed at improving intelligence sharing with the United States.
Last month, Google applied for environmental approval in Australia to build a subsea cable linking Christmas Island to Darwin, a northern Australian city where U.S. Marines are stationed for six months each year. The cable will be installed by U.S. company SubCom, which has previously built undersea links for military installations in the Indian Ocean, including connecting Diego Garcia to Australia and Oman.
The proposed AI data centre is part of broader trends in leveraging cloud infrastructure for advanced operational capabilities and regional monitoring. By combining AI processing with secure, high-bandwidth connections, the facility would enhance Australia’s ability to manage remote operations, support uncrewed systems, and strengthen strategic communications in the region.
Separately, Typhoon Kalmaegi struck Vietnam on Thursday, two days after sweeping across the Philippines, where it caused significant casualties and damage, highlighting ongoing natural risks in the region.
