By Nayef Dagher, Founder & CEO, Amulet
This week, news broke that SoftBank secured a $40 billion loan specifically to deepen its bets on OpenAI. That's billion with a B. For a single AI company. In a single deal.
The numbers are hard to contextualise. But the direction they point in is pretty clear, and if you're running an Australian business that's starting to rely on AI tools, you should understand what this trend means for you.
AI Infrastructure Is the New Cloud
Cast your mind back to the early 2010s when it became obvious that Amazon Web Services was going to be the plumbing underneath most of the internet. The companies that saw that early either built on it or built alongside it — and either way, they understood that the infrastructure layer was where the real power was accumulating.
We're in the same moment with AI. The massive capital flows — SoftBank's $40B bet, Microsoft's multi-billion OpenAI investment, Google's internal AI infrastructure spending — aren't just funding product development. They're buying control of the infrastructure layer. The compute, the models, the APIs that the rest of the world's software will depend on.
And that infrastructure is overwhelmingly American. Owned, operated, and governed by US companies, under US law, with US data processing standards.
Why This Matters for Australian Businesses
Most Australian businesses haven't thought deeply about this. They've signed up for ChatGPT, plugged in Copilot, connected a few automations — and it all works fine. So what's the problem?
The problem isn't today. It's the trajectory.
When your business workflows depend on AI tools, you're not just using software. You're running your operations through someone else's infrastructure. Your emails, your client data, your internal documents, your strategic plans — all of it is being processed, stored, and analysed on servers you don't control, in jurisdictions with different privacy frameworks to Australia.
Australia's Privacy Act has specific obligations around how personal information is handled, including when it crosses borders. For businesses in healthcare, legal, finance, or government — the obligations are even tighter. Relying on US-based AI infrastructure isn't automatically non-compliant, but it's a risk that compounds over time as your AI dependency deepens.
And then there's the concentration risk. When one company controls the AI stack and raises a $40B round, it's not becoming more accessible — it's becoming more centralised. Pricing power, terms of service, data usage policies — all of it sits with the infrastructure owner. That's leverage you don't have.
The Australian Angle Nobody's Talking About
Here's the conversation I think Australian businesses should be having: as AI becomes operational infrastructure — not just a productivity tool — where it runs matters.
Australian companies have been through this with cloud before. The early default was "just put it on AWS." Then APRA issued guidance. Then the ASD released the Essential Eight. Then the government started asking questions about critical infrastructure. The conversation evolved because the stakes rose.
AI is following the same arc, faster. The time to think about data sovereignty isn't after your operations are fully dependent on overseas AI infrastructure. It's now, while you still have choices.
What You Can Actually Do About It
I'm not arguing you should avoid OpenAI or refuse to use international AI tools. That ship has sailed, and the tools are genuinely useful. What I am arguing is that you should be deliberate.
First, understand what data you're sending where. Most businesses have no clear picture of which AI tools have access to what data. Map it. Especially if you're in a regulated industry.
Second, where Australian-built alternatives exist, consider them seriously. Not out of nationalism — out of risk management and compliance simplicity. An AI tool that keeps your data in Australia removes an entire category of privacy and sovereignty questions.
Third, don't let convenience create lock-in without a plan. The $40B bet on OpenAI is a bet that businesses will become deeply dependent on their infrastructure. Ensure you're building on AI that can't hold you hostage.
At Amulet, we've made Australian data residency a non-negotiable from the start. Everything runs in Australia. Not because we're against international AI companies — we use their models — but because we believe Australian businesses deserve infrastructure they can trust, with data that stays home.
The SoftBank deal is a signal. The AI infrastructure layer is consolidating, fast, and mostly overseas. Now's the time to be intentional about it.
Thinking about AI that's built for Australian businesses? Talk to us about your use case →