Australia's Firmus Technologies strikes AI access deal with Nvidia

Australian AI infrastructure company Firmus Technologies said on Monday it had signed a strategic partnership with Nvidia Corp to help provide emerging AI firms with more cost-effective access to computing power.

Firmus said the deal would see it buy Nvidia infrastructure and sell Nvidia‑powered cloud services ‌to "AI Native" ⁠customers, ⁠among others, in an agreement that would earn the U.S.-listed chip giant product revenue and a share of cloud revenue.

The deal will deliver 170,000 Graphics ​Processing Units (GPU) from the first quarter of 2027 to the start of 2028, that will be located in Batam, Indonesia.


Firmus said ​it expected to earn up to $30 billion in ⁠revenue during ‌the first six years of the deal, based ​on customer ​commitments.

The Australian-founded company said the deal would ⁠make it easier for smaller and developing AI firms ​to access the technology's infrastructure.

"We have worked to ​figure out how to close the gap between the cost benefits that the large guys have access to, which they do because they have great credit ratings, and the guys that are up and comers," Firmus co-chief executive Tim Rosenfield told Reuters. "This is ‌actually a really material way to level the playing field a little bit to give the next a ​chance to compete ​with the big ⁠guys."

Nvidia has participated in Firmus' previous capital raisings making it an investor in the Australian firm, according to Firmus.

Firmus said in ​April it had raised $1.35 billion over the previous six months, giving it a $5.5 billion post-money valuation. It has appointed investment banks to work on a potential initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rosenfield declined to comment on Firmus' IPO preparations.