According to The Financial Review, the landscape of business and innovation in Australia has attracted the interest of some major players from overseas. This is due to the rapid adoption of cloud computing services to drive corporate and government digital transformation programs across Australia. And now three international tech companies are targeting the country for expansion, with a total sum of investment of $326 million.
US data center giant Equinix is investing $225 million is opening a new Sydney facility to meet the increased demand for computing capacity, while networking stalwart Cisco is pouring $61 million into investing in local start-ups, developing infrastructure and helping to digitise government departments.
Fast-growing Indian software industry disrupter Zoho, led by local managing director Timothy Kasbe, is spending upwards of $40 million to establish itself in Australia. It is bringing jobs to the regional Queensland, basing itself away from the major cities in Byron Bay.
The announcement of a huge tech investment all on one day will put some pressure on MPs on both sides of politics, who have recently been accused of disregarding the potential of the local technology industry. Recent policies such as railroading through unpopular encryption laws and dramatically cracking down on software-based companies’ claims for research and development tax incentives. These criticisms, from the tech sector, has been that Canberra is getting in the way of local companies looking to grow, by both starving them of funds and eroding trust in Australian-based tech products overseas.
As these new players enter the Australian market, it will be interesting to see how policy and platforms will change and react.
