New Zealand's data centre power list 2026

This is Data Centres NZ's power list for 2026: the three people with the greatest say over New Zealand's data centre build. In 2026 data centres became a national economic priority for New Zealand, and these are the people turning that priority into campuses, capital and power.

Invest New Zealand is seeking NZ$25 billion to NZ$35 billion of private investment over five years across data centres, renewables, fibre and transmission, and the major parties have each set out data centre policies ahead of the 7 November election. A 280MW campus is under construction in Southland, a 250MW project is being explored in Taranaki, and CDC plans more than 220MW in Auckland. The people behind those projects now carry weight well beyond their own companies.

We ranked them on what they control. A data centre build needs a developer willing to break ground, the capital to fund it and the electricity to run it, and each person on this list controls one of those. Like the Australian Financial Review's technology power list, published on 22 September 2026, we left out politicians. Invest New Zealand chief executive Robert Walls, who is leading the investment drive and has called it a "call to arms", deserves a mention. So does Transpower chief executive James Kilty, whose company owns and operates the national grid every project here connects to.

1. Rémi Galasso, Datagrid

Datagrid started earthworks on its 280MW Makarewa campus near Invercargill on 18 August 2026. Southland District Council, Environment Southland and Invercargill City Council had approved it in March without public notification. Galasso, Datagrid's founder, chief executive and chair, told a Southland Business Chamber audience on 18 August that he had turned down the fast-track process. He said it could have delivered consent in six months, but he had gone to the councils instead. "We have to do it the right way," he said.

Datagrid ordered four high-voltage transformers for its substation through a pre-purchase agreement with Transpower, and a Transpower spokesman told the NZ Herald that "the amount has been fully paid upfront by the customer". Substation commissioning is targeted for late 2027 and the first stage of the campus for 2028.

Mercury bought 12.7 per cent of Datagrid for US$30 million and holds a 15-year option to supply 140MW. Galasso is raising a Series B for a build the Herald reported as budgeted at up to NZ$5 billion, and he has said the first 280MW could grow to 1GW, depending on the capital he secures.

Galasso came to data centres from subsea cables. He founded Hawaiki, the 15,000km cable that launched in 2018 and links Australia and New Zealand to Hawaii and the US west coast. Datagrid is also behind the Tasman Ring cable proposal, which would land at Torquay in Victoria. "Compute and connectivity have to sequence together," he told Data Centres NZ in August.

2. Jason Boyes, Infratil

Boyes runs Infratil, the NZX-listed infrastructure investor. Data centres now make up just over half of its NZ$22 billion portfolio, according to its 16 September 2026 update, and its largest holding is a stake of close to half in CDC Data Centres.

CDC has 350MW deployed and 1.1GW contracted, passing 1GW contracted when it signed a 555MW, 30-year contract with a US customer on 6 May 2026. In New Zealand it runs three Auckland campuses at Silverdale and Hobsonville with 98MW between them, and plans more than 220MW in Auckland. CDC founder Greg Boorer, whom the AFR said could equally have made its Australian list, runs the business, which Infratil owns alongside the Future Fund, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and management.

On 20 May 2026 Infratil sold 5 per cent of Contact Energy for about NZ$495 million, and Boyes said it was "prudent to reposition this capital now". The sale left Infratil with about 9 per cent of Contact, which puts it on both sides of the Stratford partnership between Contact and CDC. He has said Infratil has "high conviction" in data centres and has called the concentration in its portfolio intentional.

Also in contention is TenPeaks chief executive Michael Stribling. TenPeaks, carved out of Spark's data centre business and now 75 per cent owned by Pacific Equity Partners, launched in February 2026 with 11 facilities, 23MW running and a pipeline of more than 130MW on land it owns.

3. Mike Fuge, Contact Energy

Fuge, Contact Energy's chief executive, has an existing grid connection to put on the table. On 10 August 2026 Contact announced it would explore a 250MW data centre with CDC at Stratford in Taranaki, on the site of a gas plant retired in 2026. The site keeps its grid connection and has consent for 500MW of grid-scale batteries, and Contact's 200MW of current generation there is not affected. Contact chief financial officer Matt Forbes said the company was prepared to own up to half of the data centre.

Fuge has said the power would come under long-term contract "supported by new generation from Contact's 11 TWh pipeline of geothermal, wind and solar development options". At Contact's shareholder meeting on 16 September 2026 he said the three conditions still to clear were six to 12 months away: an anchor tenant, approvals and project finance. If they are met, the project would create more than 100 operating jobs and about 600 at peak construction.

He has called data centres a "once-in-three-generations opportunity", The Spinoff reported on 6 July 2026.

Mercury chief executive Stew Hamilton was close behind. Mercury holds the Datagrid stake and supply option, and Hamilton told analysts on 18 August 2026 that there was "an insatiable appetite for compute demand". He said two big data centres, maybe a third, would absorb Mercury's ability to build power stations over the next five to 10 years.

What to watch

Datagrid's Series B. Galasso has said the first 280MW at Makarewa could grow to 1GW, depending on the capital he secures. The size of the round will show how far beyond the first stage the Southland campus can go.

An anchor tenant at Stratford. Contact put an anchor tenant, approvals and project finance at six to 12 months away on 16 September 2026. A signed tenant would move the 250MW project from exploration to consent and financing.

CDC's Auckland build. CDC runs 98MW across its Silverdale and Hobsonville campuses and plans more than 220MW in Auckland. Each new stage adds to the New Zealand share of the business Infratil funds.

The 7 November election. The next government's data centre policy will set the terms for every project on this list, from grid connections to consenting.