Potential job creation of planned NZ data centres not known

Tue, 29th Nov 2022

FYI, this story is more than a year old

The lead government agency on data centres says it is not doing any work on how many jobs might be created.

About a dozen data centres are being planned or built, most around Auckland, by some of the world's largest companies.

Their construction is employing several hundred people but the long-term job prospects are not clear.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment told RNZ earlier that what little information it had on jobs came from the Internal Affairs Department.

RNZ asked DIA about the extent of any information it had on job creation.

"Hyperscale cloud providers make a commercial decision to build data centres in New Zealand including conducting economic impact assessments," DIA responded.

"DIA does not conduct research into jobs created due to this decision."

OIA documents showed the data centres - which use a lot of electricity - have asked for meetings with ministers and sought their backing.

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This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.