Plans for the data center on the small island 350km south of Indonesia have not previously been reported, and many details, including its expected size, costs and potential applications, remain secret.
However, military experts say such a facility would be a valuable asset on the island, which is increasingly seen by defense officials as a critical frontline in monitoring Chinese submarines and other naval activities in the Indian Ocean.
Google is in advanced talks to lease land near the island’s airport to build the data hub, including a deal with a local mining company to meet its energy needs, Christmas Island Shire officials told Reuters and council meeting records show.
Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, declined to comment for this story.
The Australian Department of Defense had no comment.
A recent war game involving the Australian, American and Japanese militaries highlighted Christmas Island’s role as a forward line of defense for Australia in any regional conflict, particularly its advantages for launching unmanned weapons systems.
Bryan Clark, a former US Navy strategist who led the war games, said having a forward command and control hub on Christmas Island would be critical in a crisis with China or another adversary.
“The data center is partly intended to enable you to do the kinds of AI command and control that you’ll need to do in the future, especially if you rely on unmanned systems for surveillance missions and targeting missions and even combat,” Clark, now a fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Reuters.
Undersea cables offer more bandwidth for communications than a satellite, and greater reliability, as China is expected to jam satellite communications or Starlink in a crisis, he said.
“If you have a data center at Christmas, you can do a lot of that through cloud infrastructure,” he added.
The Australian Department of Defense signed a three-year cloud agreement with Google in July. The British military recently announced a similar Google cloud deal, which it says will boost intelligence sharing with the United States.
Google last month applied for Australian environmental approvals to build the first undersea cable connecting Christmas Island to the northern Australian city of Darwin, where the US Marine Corps is stationed six months a year.
The cable connection to Darwin for Google will be installed by the American company SubCom, documents show. Reuters has reported that SubCom, the US military’s exclusive undersea cable contractor, previously connected the US/British military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean with a cable stretching from Australia to Oman.
Christmas Island Shire president Steve Pereira said his government is examining the impact of the proposed data center on the community before giving final approval for construction.
The 135-square-kilometer island, best known for its detention center for asylum seekers and the annual migration of millions of red crabs, has until recently suffered from poor telecommunications and its 1,600 residents have no jobs.
“There is support for this, provided that this data center actually returns infrastructure and employment to the community and adds economic value to the island,” he said.
Two Christmas Island sources and a defense source said the data center was of commercial advantage to Google due to its location in the Indian Ocean between Africa, Asia and Australia, as well as its potential defense purposes.
Another recent war game on Christmas Island involved the rapid deployment of an advanced American HIMARS missile system on trucks from Darwin, which drew mixed reactions from residents.
Some anti-war protesters feared the impact on tourism, while businesspeople hope increased defense activities will boost the economy, Pereira said.
“We are a strategic asset for defense,” he said.
“There are many industries on the island that we need to protect, all this will be carefully considered in new projects – whether defense or Google,” he added.
Retired Navy Commodore Peter Leavy, who lived on the island as a student, told Reuters he has brought several Australian defense groups to Christmas Island since last year in an effort to build community support for defense activities.
“Christmas Island is quite well positioned to at least monitor what’s going through the Sunda Strait, the Lombok Strait and the Malacca Strait. It’s a really good location.”
Published – Nov 7, 2025 10:22 AM IST
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