Nvidia-backed Firmus lands OpenAI as anchor tenant for Malaysia data centres
Firmus signs multi-year deal with OpenAI for Malaysia data centre capacity, lifting contracted power to over 900 MW.
Australian AI infrastructure firm Firmus has signed a multi-year agreement with OpenAI to supply computing capacity from two data centres in Malaysia, making the ChatGPT developer an anchor customer. The deal underscores the intensifying global race to secure power and data centre capacity for advanced AI models.
Firmus, valued at over $10.5 billion in its last funding round, counts Nvidia, Jane Street, Blackstone funds, and Coatue Management among its backers. The company said the OpenAI contract raises its total contracted capacity across customers to more than 900 megawatts (MW).
The agreement comes ahead of a rumoured initial public offering this year, which could rank among Australia's largest in recent years. Firmus currently operates two AI data centres in Australia and Singapore, with five more under development across the Asia-Pacific region.
As part of the expansion, Firmus will deploy Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin processors at scale, with Malaysia extending its regional footprint. Malaysia has emerged as Southeast Asia's fastest-growing data centre market, though the rapid buildout has drawn scrutiny over electricity and water consumption.
Neither Firmus nor OpenAI disclosed the contract's financial value. OpenAI last week unveiled Astra, which it described as its most capable model yet, highlighting the growing demand for infrastructure to run such systems.