Meta signs deal for Firmus AI computing capacity in Southeast Asia

Credit: Firmus

Meta has signed deals to rent AI chips at data centers in Southeast Asia run by Firmus, an Australian company that builds them, the two companies announced.

Meta has reserved a certain amount of capacity and can add more if needed. Also, the company plans to use the chips to research, build, and train its AI models.

Neither company shared the financial details or revealed which sites Meta will use.

Meta already works with Firmus in Australia; in Melbourne, it uses Nvidia GB300 systems, which Firmus says make up the largest group of Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra chips south of the equator.

The new sites will feature Nvidia’s DSX design inside Firmus’s HyperCube units. Each unit is made in a factory in rural New South Wales and comes with its own cooling and power equipment. The latest model can also support Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin chips.

“We see Firmus as a long-term strategic infrastructure partner as we build for the next generation of AI across Asia-Pacific,” said Gaya Nagarajan, Meta’s vice president of engineering for infrastructure.

The agreement comes a week before Firmus starts the bookbuild for its share market debut on 6 October.

Moreover, the company plans to raise about $5 billion, which would make it Australia’s second-largest listing.

Firmus has seven AI sites in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and two of them are up and running. Earlier this month, OpenAI became an anchor customer at two Malaysian sites, lifting Firmus’s contracted capacity above 900MW.

In June, it also agreed with Nvidia to build a 360MW site on the Indonesian island of Batam, with room for up to 170,000 Nvidia chips.

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