The AI computing power circuit reproduces big orders! Firmus and OpenAI sign multi-year agreement for data center capacity in Malaysia

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Australian data center builder Firmus said on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement with artificial intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI to provide computing power to OpenAI from its two data centers in Malaysia, making the ChatGPT developer its anchor customer. The parties did not disclose the exact amount of the agreement.

As infrastructure requirements to run advanced AI models soar, the importance of data center computing capacity continues to increase. After reaching an agreement with OpenAI, Firmus' total contracted computing capacity for all customers increased to over 900 megawatts (MW).

Traditionally, the AI computing power market is dominated by tech giants with strong capital and scale advantages, which can obtain the most advanced GPU resources at a lower unit cost. Firmus' business model seeks to export Nvidia's top computing power to small and medium-sized AI developers in a more flexible manner through large-scale infrastructure deployment and revenue sharing mechanisms.

Firmus' asset portfolio includes two AI data centers already in operation in Australia and Singapore, in addition to 5 data centers being developed and built in the Asia-Pacific region. Firmus will deploy Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin processors on a large scale throughout the Asia Pacific region, and the addition of the Malaysian market will further expand its business presence in the region. Malaysia has become the fastest-growing data center market in Southeast Asia, although the rapid construction of data centers has also triggered scrutiny of the use of electricity and water resources.

When the agreement was signed, it was widely rumored that Firmus was planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) this year, which could become one of Australia's largest IPOs in recent years. The AI infrastructure company has been valued at over $10.5 billion in the latest round of financing, and funds owned by Nvidia (NVDA.US), Jane Street, Blackstone (BX.US), and Coatue Management have all participated in the investment.

Additionally, in June of this year, Firmus announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Nvidia to provide more cost-effective high-performance computing resources for emerging AI companies. Under the agreement, Firmus will purchase Nvidia's infrastructure and sell cloud services based on Nvidia technology to customers such as “AI Native”. In return, Nvidia will receive a share of product revenue and some cloud service revenue.

Under the agreement, from the first quarter of 2027 to the beginning of 2028, Nvidia will deliver 170,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) to the facility in Batam, Indonesia. Firmus expects the partnership to generate revenue of up to $25 billion to $30 billion over the first six years, based on existing customer offtake commitments.