Microsoft's Steven Worrall says Australia has some advantages when it comes to growing data centres. -AAP Image
Australia could become a warehouse for the immense pile of data that sits behind the rise of artificial intelligence, powered by renewable and nuclear energy, a tech giant says.
Economic modelling released on Thursday by Microsoft and consultancy Mandala Partners found healthcare, agriculture and finance will get the biggest AI-driven efficiency and productivity boost.
Widespread and fast-paced uptake would unlock an estimated $115 billion in economic value annually by 2030, the report found.
Applications, AI data centres and data systems make up 90 per cent of the projected $18.8 billion in additional annual revenue that Australia could generate by 2035, according to the new research.
We've identified the three areas where we feel, as a country, can have the most impact - data centres, data and apps, Microsoft ANZ managing director Steven Worrall told AAP.
Dependent on safe data storage, Microsoft announced a year ago it would spend $5 billion to build more data centres in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne to support its highly profitable expansion in cloud computing and new AI infrastructure.
Mr Worrall said Australia's unique edge in abundant renewable energy, a big landmass and proximity to Asia were expected to fuel growth in data centres and, as an industry in its own right, generate $4.7 billion in annual revenue in Australia by 2035.
In contrast, global semiconductor chip manufacturing was an area where Australia could not compete with tech giants Nvidia and Intel or Taiwan's TSMC, he said.
Tech Council of Australia chief executive Damian Kassabgi said Australia was poised to lead in the global AI economy, provided the nation continued to innovate and scale up strategically.
But building more AI data centres will require more land so Australia must adjust planning and zoning, and grow a new workforce to build and maintain them, the report said.
A new report has identified a number of industries that can boost productivity by embracing AI. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
Mr Worrall said the energy mix would be a key part of industry policy, and Microsoft played an important role in renewable energy development in Australia through supply agreements to power more of its data centres with clean energy.
Australia has amazing potential when you think about access to renewables, he said.
If our government of the day decides that nuclear is a part of the mix then quite obviously that starts to come to the fore as well.
Data interoperability is also a priority, under the nation's national digital health strategy, with improved and more secure health information behind better healthcare for the public and supporting the workflow and decisions of over-worked nurses and doctors.
Tapping into world-class medical research and a vibrant community of start-ups, local and global companies will use cloud computing, machine learning and AI to create new apps and exports.
Providers of datasets used to train AI models, and data advisory firms that help other businesses adopt AI, are also expected to be winners, the report found.
https://www.sheppnews.com.au/national/australia-poised-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-ai-era/
