Hosting data onshore with Snowflake boost trusts, speed and sovereignty.

Organisations across sectors are leaning on data to drive decisions, power AI models, and improve customer outcomes.

But where that data lives – and who controls it – is becoming just as important as how it’s used.

Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud Company, is deepening its roots to meet that demand. At its Data Cloud World Tour event, the company announced it is increasing its New Zealand reach with plans to deploy its AI data cloud on a New Zealand-based data centre in the first half of 2026, allowing customers to host and process data entirely onshore.

“Data residency and sovereignty are critical issues for New Zealand right now,” says Tony Shaw (pictured), Snowflake’s Country Manager for New Zealand. “Organisations want the confidence that their data is stored locally, within New Zealand’s borders.”

What’s the difference between residency and sovereignty?

At its simplest, data residency refers to where the servers holding your information are physically located, while data sovereignty is about which country’s laws apply. Both have been hot topics in regulated sectors like banking, healthcare, and government.

Until now, most New Zealand organisations using cloud platforms have stored their data offshore, commonly in Australia. That arrangement has worked, but it has limitations. “There’s always been a strong sentiment, particularly in banking, government, and healthcare, to bring data home,” Shaw explains. “Now, with local deployments available, they can.”

Why now?

The shift is partly regulatory. Banks, for example, must operate independently of their Australian parents – but performance and trust are also key drivers. Hosting data in New Zealand improves latency and gives businesses more confidence about who has access and under what conditions.

“Customers are telling us they want it here,” Shaw says. “It’s about meeting that demand and continuing to invest in New Zealand.” 

Snowflake has doubled the size of its local team in the past year and expects to keep growing as demand for data services expands.

The AI connection

AI is accelerating the urgency of the data residency conversation. Large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude thrive on vast datasets, but to be useful and trusted in business, they must run on secure, well-governed information.

“You can’t have an AI strategy without a data strategy,” Shaw says. “The governance, security, and privacy of the data underpin the ethical use of AI. That foundation lets businesses move faster, because they know the controls are already baked in.”

Unlike public AI tools that train on open internet data, Snowflake ensures customer information stays private. “Your data isn’t being used to train someone else’s model,” Shaw notes. “That trust is vital if AI is going to move from prototypes to production-ready solutions.”

Opportunities for New Zealand

The plans to deploy Snowflake’s services on a New Zealand-based data centre in 2026 isn’t just about meeting existing demand. Shaw sees it as a chance to position the country as a trusted hub for data hosting.

“New Zealand has a strong global reputation for security, privacy, and lack of corruption,” he says. “That makes us an attractive place not just for local organisations, but potentially for offshore companies looking for a safe jurisdiction to host data.”

The economic impacts are hard to quantify, but the direction is clear: more local jobs, more investment in skills, and more opportunities for innovation. “We’ve had fantastic support from our global leadership,” Shaw says. “To have this level of backing for New Zealand is unique in my career.”

What leaders should prioritise

For business leaders, the message is clear: start with the outcomes.

“The key question is: what is your organisation trying to achieve?” Shaw says. “Once you know the big levers, whether that’s health metrics, marketing effectiveness, customer churn, or treasury liquidity, you can work backwards to the data you need to answer those questions.”

The power of a unified platform, he argues, is that data only needs to be stored once but can then be used across multiple functions. “It might start in finance, but quickly it’s marketing, operations, or customer experience. The same foundation supports all of it.”

Looking ahead

Shaw believes every sector in New Zealand stands to benefit. From retail supply chains to public-sector services, the opportunities to drive efficiency and insight through data are expanding rapidly.

“What’s exciting is that organisations are moving beyond testing and prototypes,” he says. “They’re building production-ready solutions that deliver real outcomes. That’s where the future lies.”

With plans to deploy its AI data cloud on a New-Zealand based data centre in the first half of 2026, Snowflake believes that future will be built in New Zealand.

“Putting data residency and sovereignty at the centre is about trust, performance, and opportunity,” Shaw says. “It’s about saying that New Zealand matters to our customers, and to our industry.”

Learn more about Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud at: snowflake.com