• First NZ hyperscale cloud region offers local data residency, enhanced security, and reduced latency, empowering New Zealand to leverage technology more efficiently at an unprecedented scale 
• Microsoft signed a long-term renewable energy contract, and will run the latest water-free technology to cool the datacenter 

The age of hyperscale cloud has arrived in Aotearoa, bringing unprecedented opportunities for local organisations. The opening of Microsoft’s hyperscale cloud region marks the most significant milestone in the company’s nearly 40-year history in New Zealand. Microsoft will support New Zealanders to make the most of this opportunity by training 100,000 people over the next two years with AI and digital skills, creating long-term benefits for the economy.

Sustainable growth for New Zealand – carbon-free and water-free cooling 

The datacenter region brings the best of Microsoft’s sustainability investments and will be supported by 100% carbon-free electricity as a result of the 10-year agreement that Microsoft signed with Contact Energy (Contact) for the Renewable Attributes produced by Te Huka 3 geothermal power station. 

The long-term contract with Microsoft supported Contact’s investment decision to construct the Te Huka 3 power station and can generate 51.4 megawatts of reliable and renewable generation throughout the year. This deal helps add carbon-free energy into the Aotearoa grid. 

Microsoft’s Aotearoa datacenter will also use water-free cooling, ensuring data is stored at the right temperature using air cooling.  

Microsoft is also supporting Community Waitākere to work alongside the local community to restore the biodiversity values and mauri of the threatened stream, floodplain, and wetland habitats in the Paremuka Stream catchment. Additionally, Microsoft, Community Waitākere and the Society for Ecological Restoration are working together to restore Harbourview-Orangihina Park’s native ecosystems including freshwater wetlands, saltmarsh, and native coastal forest. The project aims to protect rare bird species and preserve the area’s cultural significance, supporting its sustainability for future generations. 

Investment means opportunity
The investment offers incredible opportunity for New Zealand. Microsoft’s recent Accenture research identified that gen AI adoption is expected to add $76 billion to the New Zealand economy by 2038, based on a standard trajectory. The report pointed at cloud infrastructure and public cloud adoption as one of the key enablers to making the most of gen AI to boost our productivity and GDP.  

“We are a small but mighty nation of visionaries who have propelled our business innovation, incredible sports teams, and amazing entertainment into worldwide brands. So many New Zealand companies are going global, and having this infrastructure here in Aotearoa is going to help many more innovators to realise their ambitions and show the rest of the world how creative and talented we can be,” says Vanessa Sorenson, Managing Director of Microsoft New Zealand. 

Skilling Aotearoa for the future: Technology alone is not enough without skilling 

We recognise the importance of unlocking the benefits of AI for every New Zealander — at every career stage, in every role, and in every community. We are focused on empowering 100,000 learners by 2027 to build digital and AI skills. 

This builds on various skilling programmes and partnerships that Microsoft has supported in New Zealand with local partners, educators and customers since the cloud region was announced.  

The 10KWomen Initiative created by a passionate group of volunteers, set out in 2022 to empower 10,000 female students, workers and career-changers to explore careers that require digital skills and to break down the barriers preventing more women from exploring these careers. In September, we had reached more than 10,700 women and girls.  

Microsoft and Te Pūkenga are also partnering to address talent shortages in West Auckland’s creative technology sector by providing upskilling and reskilling opportunities, particularly for underrepresented groups such as Māori, Pacific peoples and women. The initiative supports an inclusive workforce through upskilling kaiako in secondary schools and kura kaupapa, offering micro-credentials to high school students and providing micro-credentials to lifelong learners re-entering the workforce. 

Protecting New Zealand data as a local taonga 

Having a hyperscale cloud region in Aotearoa enables local organisations to store, process and back-up their data on New Zealand’s shores.  

Local customers also benefit from the threat protections afforded by an intelligence network that has visibility of 78 trillion signals per day. This means New Zealand government and businesses can be both locally hosted, and globally protected.    

Te Tumu Paeroa, the Office of the Māori Trustee, says this maintains the residency of the Māori data for which they are a kaitiaki in Aotearoa, while enabling them to leverage Microsoft’s advanced security, sustainability and world-leading AI technologies for the benefit of landowners in their role as kaitiaki and administrators for Māori land trusts across Aotearoa. 

“We have a whakatauki (proverb): Aho roroa uaua hautū, aho popoto hautū marika – A kite with a short string is easier to control, and a kite with a long string is more difficult to control – but it benefits from the high wind. This agreement means we can have those high winds and the short string, enjoying the comfort and peace of having the data close, while being able to engage more easily with owners and support partners,” says Ruth Russell, Kaitautari Pārongo Matua | Chief Information Officer for Te Tumu Paeroa.  

Supporting more innovation from Aotearoa to the world 

Above all, the decision to build a hyperscale cloud region in New Zealand is intended to enable local innovators to grow on a global scale and deliver more to their customers and stakeholders. We’re proud to be supporting a host of New Zealand organisations to modernise and realise their ambitions, including Fonterra, Craigs Investment Partners, ASB, BNZ, ACC, Whakarongorau Aotearoa, Auckland Transport, SMX and The Warehouse Group, alongside trusted partners such as PwC, Veeam, AvePoint and CCL. 

Source: https://news.microsoft.com/