• Firmus has signed a multi-year agreement to provide OpenAI with dedicated compute from two planned AI factories in Malaysia
  • Firmus says its contracted customer portfolio now exceeds 900MW, although OpenAI's allocated capacity and the contract value were not disclosed

The fact

Firmus said OpenAI has agreed to take dedicated computing capacity from two AI factories being developed in Malaysia under a multi-year deal. The companies did not disclose the contract value or how much capacity has been reserved for OpenAI.

The agreement forms part of a wider expansion by Firmus, which says it now has more than 900MW of capacity contracted across its customer portfolio. The company has seven AI factories across Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, with two already operating and five under development. It expects the planned sites to enter service over the next 24 months.

The Malaysian facilities are due to use Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack systems alongside Firmus's HyperCube infrastructure, which combines prefabricated liquid cooling, mechanical systems, and electrical equipment. Some of those components will be manufactured in regional New South Wales before being shipped to the sites. Firmus says this approach can reduce deployment time, although the Malaysian facilities are still under development and no operating results have yet been reported.

The assessment

Firmus has secured OpenAI as a customer before the two Malaysian sites are operational. That gives the projects committed demand, but it also puts more attention on whether Firmus can deliver the facilities on schedule.

Some of the cooling and electrical equipment will be assembled before it reaches the sites, which could reduce work during construction. The facilities will still need their racks, power and cooling systems to be installed, connected and tested together before OpenAI can use the capacity.

For BTW readers, Firmus's 900MW contracted portfolio shows the scale of demand across its projects, but it says little about when the Malaysian capacity will be ready. The clearer milestones will be equipment delivery, integrated testing and the point at which OpenAI can begin running workloads.

What to watch

Watch for Firmus to disclose the locations, capacity and service dates of the two Malaysian sites. Equipment delivery, integrated testing and customer acceptance will show when OpenAI's contracted capacity moves from a development commitment to usable compute.