AI Bubble: Macquarie’s Sale of Data Centre Assets May Be a Canary in the Coal Mine for a Coming Financial Bust
Australian Financial Review
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Details
- Date Published
- 17 Dec 2025
- Priority Score
- 2
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 18 Dec 2025, 01:45 am
Description
Macquarie’s sale of data centre assets may be a canary in the coal mine for a coming financial bust.
Summary
The article explores Macquarie Group's decision to sell its investments in data centres, suggesting it may signal the peak of a financial bubble. While primarily focused on financial implications, this development indirectly touches on AI aspects as data centres are critical infrastructure for AI technologies. The selling of these assets could indicate caution in investing in core AI infrastructure, potentially affecting the stability and growth of AI capabilities globally. However, the article does not explicitly address AI safety or catastrophic AI risks, focusing more on economic rather than technological or safety insights.
Body
PolicyEconomyData centresPrint articleDec 17, 2025 – 9.00amSaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? LoginOne of Australia’s savviest infrastructure investors, Macquarie Group, is exiting its data centre investments in quick succession.Macquarie was an early investor in data centres. Now, Macquarie’s sale of three huge data centre assets may ultimately be the canary in the coalmine, signalling the peak of what may prove to be a financial bubble.Loading...John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.comSaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? LoginLicense articleFollow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.Find out moreRead MoreData centresOpinionFetching latest articlesThe untold story of the most lethal Sydney to Hobart race in 26 yearsTony Davis24 new watches to ring out the year (from $170 to $218k)‘YIMBY is a misnomer. They haven’t got backyards’The 5 biggest corporate stuff-ups of 2025James ThomsonLeaders fail because they don’t understand one thing, says this CEOBega CEO reveals his latest health obsession (it’s not only protein)This is the wine young people are drinkingMax AllenWhy everyone is wearing straw hatsA first look at Melbourne’s new $150m luxury hotelKatie Page’s horse sale gets a brush with cultureMichael BaileyBillionaire Rinehart loses bid for helipad at pink-themed HQImmutable late accounts reveal $72m loss despite big revenue growth