An Australian artificial intelligence infrastructure company has announced a landmark agreement with chip giant Nvidia Corp that could reshape how smaller AI firms access the computing power they need to compete.
Firmus Technologies announced Monday that it had entered into a strategic partnership with Nvidia that would allow it to purchase Nvidia infrastructure and then offer Nvidia-powered cloud services to what the company calls “AI Native” customers, among others. Under the terms of the deal, Nvidia would receive both product revenue and a portion of cloud service revenue.
The agreement calls for the delivery of 170,000 Graphics Processing Units, commonly known as GPUs, beginning in the first quarter of 2027 and running through early 2028. Those units will be housed in Batam, Indonesia.
Firmus said it anticipates generating as much as $30 billion in revenue during the first six years of the partnership, based on existing customer commitments.
Company co-chief executive Tim Rosenfield explained the motivation behind the deal, telling Reuters: “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. 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.”
The Australian-founded firm noted that Nvidia has taken part in previous rounds of capital fundraising, making the chip company an existing investor in Firmus.
Earlier this year in April, Firmus disclosed it had raised $1.35 billion over the prior six months, placing its post-money valuation at $5.5 billion. Sources familiar with the situation say the company has also brought on investment banks to explore a possible initial public offering, though Rosenfield declined to address those reports when asked.
