Australian AI infrastructure company Firmus and OpenAI will cooperate to expand AI data center capacity into Malaysia, a new market for the Australian infrastructure company, under a multi-year partnership to develop two sites there.

In a statement on Tuesday, Firmus said OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, will become an anchor customer, contracting computing capacity from the two Malaysian data centers. The deal lifts Firmus’s total contracted capacity across all customers past 900 MW.

The Malaysian sites will use NVIDIA’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems and DSX platform, combined with Firmus’s HyperCube liquid-cooling infrastructure, prefabricated in regional New South Wales. Firmus said drawing more of the supply chain together would speed deployment and lower the cost of producing AI output.

Sachin Katti, VP of Compute Strategy at OpenAI, said the sites would help it meet growing demand for its products across the region and beyond.

Firmus Co-founder and co-Chief Executive Tim Rosenfield said the partnership marked Asia-Pacific becoming a producer of AI rather than only a consumer.

Firmus said its portfolio spanned seven AI “factories” across Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The figures include two operational in Australia and Singapore and five under development, targeting service over the next 24 months.

Firmus also plans to establish an Australian AI Access Program to support researchers and organizations working on science, education, agriculture, energy efficiency, and climate resilience.

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

Australia’s Firmus raises $2B from Blackstone, Coatue, NVIDIA, to expand AI factories in APAC