At a glance
Firmus has signed Thinking Machines Lab, the AI company founded by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, as an anchor customer for its AI-Cloud Region in Asia under a multi-year agreement.
Thinking Machines will train and deploy its next AI models on Firmus AI factories running NVIDIA GB300 systems.
It is Firmus's first major customer since it withdrew its ASX float on 9 October, the Australian Financial Review reported. It is the fifth customer Firmus has named, after NVIDIA, Fireworks AI, OpenAI and Meta.
Thinking Machines also buys GB300 capacity from Google Cloud and has agreed with NVIDIA to deploy at least 1GW of Vera Rubin systems from early 2027. NVIDIA is a shareholder in both Thinking Machines and Firmus.
Firmus needs about US$3 billion to help buy chips for its Malaysian and Indonesian AI factories, the AFR reported, and is raising it from private investors.
Australian AI infrastructure company Firmus has signed Thinking Machines Lab, the San Francisco AI company founded by Mira Murati, as a customer, 11 days after it pulled its ASX float. In a release datelined San Francisco and Sydney, Firmus said Thinking Machines Lab would become an anchor customer for the Firmus AI-Cloud Region in Asia under a multi-year agreement. Capital Brief reported the deal late on 20 October 2026.
The agreement adds a fifth name to the customers Firmus has disclosed, and arrives while it raises money privately for the chips in its Asian AI factories.
Thinking Machines joins Fireworks AI as a named customer for Firmus's AI-Cloud Region in Asia, and gives Firmus a new contract while it raises capital privately.
Thinking Machines will train on NVIDIA GB300 systems in Asia
Under the agreement, Thinking Machines will train and deploy its next generation of AI models on Firmus AI factory infrastructure powered by NVIDIA GB300 systems, the release said. The GB300 NVL72 is NVIDIA's Blackwell Ultra generation, sold as a liquid-cooled rack of 72 connected GPUs, and it is the system Meta runs at Firmus's Melbourne AI factory.
Firmus operates AI factories in Melbourne and Singapore, and is building a 360MW campus on Batam in Indonesia with data centre developer DayOne, with delivery scheduled from the first quarter of 2027 into early 2028, along with two sites in Malaysia.
Trent Viengsone, Firmus's vice president for North America, said the agreement "reflects the growing demand for purpose-built AI infrastructure capable of supporting the next generation of models". Chief technology officer Dr Daniel Kearney said designing networking, cooling and power together with the compute would give Thinking Machines "additional capacity to train, deploy and scale advanced AI systems".
Murati's lab buys GB300 capacity from Google Cloud and Vera Rubin from NVIDIA
Murati founded Thinking Machines Lab in San Francisco in February 2025 after leaving OpenAI, where she was chief technology officer. It raised a US$2 billion seed round at a US$12 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported, and released its first product, Tinker, a tool for fine-tuning AI models, in October 2025. Its investors include Andreessen Horowitz, NVIDIA and Australian venture firm Square Peg, the AFR reported.
On 22 April 2026 Google Cloud announced an agreement to expand Thinking Machines' use of its AI infrastructure, naming the lab among the first Google Cloud customers on GB300 NVL72 systems. TechCrunch put the deal in the single-digit billions of US dollars, citing a source familiar with the matter.
On 10 March 2026 Thinking Machines and NVIDIA announced a multi-year partnership to deploy at least one gigawatt of NVIDIA's next-generation Vera Rubin systems, with deployment targeted for early 2027. NVIDIA also made what both companies called a significant investment in the lab.
NVIDIA holds shares in Thinking Machines and in Firmus, and supplies the chips both companies use. Firmus says the latest generation of its HyperCube, the factory-built module that houses its racks, supports both GB300 and Vera Rubin NVL72 systems.
Firmus has now named five customers
Firmus is one of the neocloud providers in Australia, companies that build GPU computing capacity and rent it to AI developers. These are the customers it has named in its own announcements and its partners'.
Customer | Where Firmus says it runs | Announced |
|---|---|---|
NVIDIA | Anchor customer, Project Southgate, Australia | 16 October 2025 |
Fireworks AI | Firmus's Asia-based AI Cloud Region | August 2026 |
OpenAI | Two AI factories in Malaysia | 8 September 2026 |
Meta | Melbourne AI factory; AI factories in Southeast Asia | 29 September 2026 |
Thinking Machines Lab | Firmus AI-Cloud Region in Asia | 20 October 2026 |
Source: CDC release, 16 October 2025; Firmus releases, August to October 2026.
All five are US companies. Firmus has named NVIDIA and Meta as customers in Australia. Fireworks AI, a US company that runs AI models for developers, signed in August for Firmus's "Asia-based AI Cloud Region offering". OpenAI became anchor customer for two Malaysian AI factories on 8 September, and Meta extended its Melbourne arrangement into Southeast Asia on 29 September.
Customers including Meta and OpenAI have signed for 912MW of Firmus capacity, and 46MW is operating in Melbourne and Singapore, the AFR has reported. Australia's operating sites are listed in the data centres in Australia directory.
Firmus is raising about US$3 billion privately for its Asian chips
Firmus withdrew its float on 9 October, saying it would "pursue capital from the private markets and consider alternative public and private market options". The listing would have been the second-largest in Australian history after Telstra's in 1997, the AFR reported.
Firmus needs about US$3 billion to help buy the chips for its new Malaysian and Indonesian AI factories, the AFR reported on 21 October. The chips can be heavily debt funded, it said, but Firmus has to contribute about 15 per cent of the cost as equity, and is raising the money from existing backers including NVIDIA, Blackstone and Coatue Management. Co-chief executive Oliver Curtis told The Australian after the float was withdrawn that the company remained in a "perfectly good position".
What to watch
The site. A named AI factory and megawatt figure for Thinking Machines' GB300 systems would show whether the agreement runs in Singapore, Batam or Malaysia.
The private round. Its size, price and investors, and whether it closes before 30 November, the date after which investors in Firmus's August round receive a better conversion of their holdings if the company has not listed, the AFR reported in September.
Vera Rubin. Thinking Machines' 1GW NVIDIA deployment is due to begin in early 2027, when Batam's first deliveries are scheduled. Firmus's HyperCube supports Vera Rubin, and a further agreement would show whether any of that gigawatt runs on Firmus.