Nvidia-backed Firmus will build a 360MW AI data centre in Indonesia and expects $30 billion in offtake deals

At a glance:

• Firmus Technologies and DayOne will build a 360MW Nvidia DSX AI Factory in Batam, Indonesia, targeting Q1 2027 launch
• The campus will deploy up to 170,000 Nvidia AI accelerator chips through 2027-2028 under a revenue-sharing agreement
• Firmus expects $25-30 billion in committed offtake agreements over the first six years of the partnership

What happened

Firmus Technologies, an Australian AI infrastructure company valued at $5.5 billion, has announced an eight-year partnership with Nvidia to build its first data centre in Indonesia. The 360-megawatt Nvidia DSX AI Factory campus will rise in Batam, an island just off the coast of Singapore, in collaboration with Singapore-based DayOne. The facility is scheduled to go live in the first quarter of 2027 and will operate as a multi-tenant site catering to AI-native customers, a departure from Firmus's Australian projects that focus on hyperscaler clients.

Under the agreement, Firmus will access up to 170,000 Nvidia AI accelerator chips through 2027 and 2028 via a revenue-sharing and credit-support arrangement. The company projects $25 billion to $30 billion in committed offtake agreements during the first six years of the partnership, according to Bloomberg. Co-CEO Tim Rosenfield told Bloomberg that market volatility around AI stocks is "largely irrelevant" to how the company is building its business, emphasizing that Firmus is driven by customer demand and signed contracts.

Why it matters

The Batam campus positions Indonesia as a regional AI compute hub, leveraging the island's proximity to Singapore's financial and technology ecosystem. Demand for AI compute across Asia-Pacific is so intense that even Google has resorted to renting GPUs from SpaceX to meet capacity needs. Nvidia's expanding DSX programme, which partners with data centre operators to deploy GPU infrastructure on a revenue-sharing basis rather than requiring upfront purchase, gains a significant foothold in Southeast Asia through this deal.

Analysts note that the project reflects a broader acceleration in Asia-Pacific data centre investment. Blackstone-backed AirTrunk has committed $30 billion to India alone, while Firmus itself has a pipeline of projects across Australia and Singapore, including a deal with CDC Data Centers to develop up to 1.6 gigawatts across Australia by 2028. The multi-tenant model in Batam could attract a diverse set of AI startups and enterprises that lack the scale to build their own GPU clusters.

Firmus's evolution and pipeline

Firmus began as a Bitcoin mining operation in Tasmania in 2019 before pivoting to AI infrastructure as the generative AI boom took off. The company raised $505 million in April at a $5.5 billion valuation in a round led by Coatue Management and backed by Nvidia, signaling strong investor confidence in its build-out strategy. Beyond Indonesia, Firmus is advancing a 1.6-gigawatt pipeline with CDC Data Centers across Australia, targeting completion by 2028.

Rosenfield declined to comment on IPO plans, though the company is widely expected to list this year. The revenue-sharing model with Nvidia reduces upfront capital expenditure for Firmus while aligning incentives around utilization rates. This approach mirrors a growing trend where GPU makers partner with specialist operators to accelerate deployment without bearing the full balance-sheet burden of data centre construction.

Regional landscape and outlook

The partnership underscores a shift in global AI infrastructure geography, with Southeast Asia emerging as a critical tier for compute capacity. Batam's strategic location, power availability, and regulatory environment make it a natural complement to Singapore's saturated data centre market. As hyperscalers and sovereign AI initiatives compete for limited GPU supply, facilities like the DSX AI Factory could become essential neutral ground for model training and inference workloads.

Investors will watch whether Firmus can execute on its ambitious timeline and convert projected offtake into recurring revenue. The company's ability to secure long-term contracts with AI-native tenants will determine if the $30 billion offtake target materializes. Meanwhile, Nvidia's DSX programme continues to expand its partner network, reinforcing the chipmaker's influence over where and how its GPUs are deployed at scale.