T4 Group directors Dean Addie and David Simpson were part of a panel at the Westpac Smarts: Building a Brighter Tomorrow event hosted at the Southland Business Chamber last week.
Mr Simpson said the cable being installed by BW Group to connect DataGrid, a hyper-scale data centre in North Makarewa separate from the T4 data centre, with the United States, Australia and Asia could drive Invercargill to build its own digital infrastructure.
"But as well as that, we can actually lead New Zealand in digital infrastructure — we can leapfrog ourselves ... We can also show the way that regions can lead the digital arena."
The DataGrid data centre carries an estimated price tag of up to $2billion and will be connected to the 15,000km Hawaiki Cable.
Mr Simpson said Invercargill was now a popular topic in digital conversations in New Zealand — with many first asking where it was and what about it was so special.
"Invercargill is now being mentioned in global conversations, which has got to be good for us as a region.
"The whole purpose of doing this is we see Southland as potentially, both for its own economy, it needing its own digital infrastructure.
Southland Business Chamber chief executive Sheree Carey, who MC’d the event, said the cable could bring super-fast internet to the city, bringing new opportunities in the tech sector.
The location of the $50million T4 data centre is yet to be disclosed, but the directors said it would be built within the city.
