Firmus inks multi-year Nvidia AI factory deal in Melbourne

Firmus has signed a multi-year agreement with a global hyperscale customer for dedicated AI infrastructure capacity at Project Southgate's first deployment in Australia.

The deal covers about 18,400 Nvidia GB300 GPUs at a Melbourne facility. Firmus described it as a multi-billion-dollar, long-term contract with a leading global technology company.

This is the second large-scale customer contract announced for Project Southgate, which Firmus is developing as a multi-site "AI factory" roll-out across Australia.

Melbourne deployment

Project Southgate's first deployment is in Melbourne. Firmus said the contract signals the arrival of hyperscale AI factories in Australia.

Firmus also linked the agreement to Australia's potential role in global AI compute supply, saying it puts the country "on a path to become a major producer and exporter of AI tokens globally".

Tim Rosenfield, co-CEO of Firmus, described the contract as both a company milestone and a sign of broader market validation.

"This agreement is a defining milestone for Firmus and for Australia's role in the global AI infrastructure landscape," Rosenfield said.

He said the deal reflects growing confidence in Firmus's approach to building AI factories "co-designed from model to grid", with power, cooling, and networking engineered for hyperscale production performance.

"These AI Factories are purposely engineered to minimise resource use and maximise performance, with the specific output to generate the best Total Cost of Operation per AI token for our customers," Rosenfield said.

Factory design

Firmus said Project Southgate uses an "AI Factory" approach designed for high-density AI workloads. It relies on a co-design method that integrates compute, cooling, power, and supply chain partners from the outset.

Current deployments use Nvidia's Grace-Blackwell architecture, and Firmus said the co-design approach allows future AI accelerator generations to be deployed within the same installed infrastructure base.

As models and training runs demand larger accelerator clusters, AI infrastructure builders have focused on power and cooling constraints. Customers have also sought long-term access to capacity, rather than shorter-term allocations that can vary with demand.

Supply chain

Firmus said its Australian supply chain includes manufacturing partners Benmax and Maas Group, which are producing AI factory components at industrial scale.

The company has committed more than $300 million to the domestic supply chain, including advanced manufacturing capacity to support up to 1.5GW of AI facility delivery per year.

It also said the investment would create up to 400 highly skilled advanced-manufacturing jobs across Australia, supporting its plan to meet hyperscale demand while building domestic industrial capacity.

Funding and expansion

Project Southgate's broader build-out includes a $10 billion debt facility led by Blackstone, according to Firmus. The company has also advanced construction of a greenfield AI factory campus in Tasmania.

Firmus said the Tasmania site will host about 36,800 Nvidia GB300 GPUs and will set "a new benchmark for energy-efficient AI infrastructure" when completed in late 2026.

Firmus operates from Australia and Singapore, building AI factories using proprietary technology and aiming to lower total cost of ownership for customers.

Project Southgate is being developed as a multi-site programme across Australia, with the Melbourne deployment first and a larger Tasmania campus under construction.