For decades, the Ford Australia Broadmeadows factory stood as one of the most important automotive plants in Australia. It was the birthplace of generations of locally built Falcons and helped define the country’s car industry for nearly 60 years.
Now, the historic site could be heading toward a completely different future. Instead of assembling sedans and SUVs, the former factory may soon house rows of servers powering artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.
Singapore-based Zerra DC has reportedly submitted plans to the Victorian government proposing a massive six-building data center campus on the old Broadmeadows site. If approved, the redevelopment would transform one of Australia’s most iconic automotive landmarks into a major technology hub.
We’re now witnessing a growing global trend where former industrial manufacturing sites are being repurposed for data centers, particularly as demand for AI computing power and cloud infrastructure accelerates worldwide.
A Historic Site For Australian Car Manufacturing
Ford first opened the Broadmeadows plant in Victoria in 1959, with the first locally produced Ford Falcon arriving shortly afterward in 1960. Over the following decades, the facility became central to Australia’s automotive industry.
At its peak, the plant employed more than 5,000 workers and produced over 600 vehicles per day. Broadmeadows built every generation of the Falcon through to the final FG X model, along with iconic Australian vehicles such as the Fairlane, LTD, and the Falcon-based Territory SUV.
The factory remained one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most productive automotive plants until Ford officially ended local manufacturing operations. On October 7, 2016, the final vehicle, a Kinetic Blue FG X Falcon XR6 sedan, rolled off the production line, marking the end of an era for Australian manufacturing. Ford later relocated its Australian headquarters to Richmond before selling the Broadmeadows site to the Pelligra Group in 2019.
Why Old Car Factories Are Becoming Data Centers
The idea of converting old automotive plants into data centers may sound unusual at first, though the logic behind it is surprisingly straightforward.
Large industrial facilities already possess many of the critical ingredients modern data centers require. Former factories typically have access to substantial electrical infrastructure, high-voltage transmission connections, expansive land footprints, and secure industrial zoning. Those characteristics make redevelopment faster and often more cost-effective than starting entirely from scratch.
The trend is already happening elsewhere around the world. In South Wales, Vantage Data Centers acquired a former Ford engine plant in Bridgend for conversion into a large-scale data center campus. That facility had previously produced more than 22 million engines for Ford, Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover before shutting down.
Australia has seen similar transitions as well. The former Holden Special Vehicles headquarters in Clayton, which also once hosted Volkswagen Beetle production, was demolished in 2025 to make way for another data center project.
The Auto Industry’s Old Homes Are Finding New Purpose
The Broadmeadows redevelopment highlights how dramatically industrial priorities are changing. Factories once built around heavy manufacturing are increasingly being viewed as ideal foundations for digital infrastructure.
Demand for AI computing capacity, cloud storage, and hyperscale server campuses has surged rapidly over the past several years. Technology companies and infrastructure developers are now racing to secure locations capable of supporting enormous energy and cooling requirements.
For longtime Australian car enthusiasts, seeing the Broadmeadows factory transformed into a server campus will likely feel bittersweet. The site that once produced generations of Falcons may soon become known not for V8 engines and assembly lines, but for powering artificial intelligence and global data networks.
In many ways, though, the transformation reflects the next phase of industrial evolution. The machines inside the buildings may be changing completely, but the site itself could once again become a critical part of modern industry.