Australia’s Firmus secures OpenAI compute deal for Malaysian AI data centres

The deal comes as OpenAI continues to expand its global computing infrastructure to meet growing demand for AI. Firmus specialises in building and operating data centres designed for AI workloads.

The agreement marks a major partnership between Firmus and OpenAI. The Malaysian facilities will add to OpenAI’s network of computing resources across different regions.

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Firmus was valued at more than $10.5 billion in its latest funding round, backed by Nvidia, Jane Street, Blackstone funds, and Coatue Management.

The OpenAI deal takes Firmus’ contracted capacity across customers to more than 900 MW. The company currently operates two AI data centres in Australia and Singapore, with five more under development across the Asia-Pacific region.

The deal highlights the growing competition among US and Chinese AI companies to secure the power and data centre capacity needed for advanced AI models. OpenAI recently unveiled Astra, which it described as its most capable model yet.

Malaysia has become one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing data centre markets, although the rapid expansion has raised concerns about electricity and water use.

Firmus plans to deploy Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin processors across the Asia-Pacific region. The Malaysia expansion will further increase the company’s presence in the region.

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