Meta has signed Australian AI infrastructure firm Firmus Technologies to supply GPU compute capacity across its expanding network of AI factories in Southeast Asia, a deal that will support the US company's AI research, model development and training workloads.

The agreement, announced Tuesday, covers contracted capacity plus options for further expansion. It extends a relationship that already makes Meta an anchor customer at Firmus's Melbourne data center, where the social media giant currently runs Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems. Firmus says this is the largest deployment of Nvidia Blackwell Ultra systems in the Southern Hemisphere.

Firmus currently operates two AI factory sites, one in Australia and one in Singapore. Five more are under development and should be ready for service within the next 24 months. The company did not confirm the specific locations of the new Meta deployment, but it has been building sites in Indonesia and Malaysia.

"We see Firmus as a long-term strategic infrastructure partner as we build for the next generation of AI across Asia-Pacific and expand the infrastructure supporting our AI research and model development efforts – the foundation of personal superintelligence," said Gaya Nagarajan, Meta's vice president of engineering and infrastructure.

The Nvidia backbone

The Meta contract sits on top of an aggressive build-out underpinned by Nvidia. Three months ago, Firmus unveiled a partnership with the chipmaker to develop a 360MW data center campus in Batam, Indonesia. Firmus and Singapore-based DayOne are constructing the facility, which is expected to become operational by the end of the first quarter of 2027.

Under that arrangement, Firmus will sell Nvidia-powered cloud services, while Nvidia earns standard product revenue plus a share of cloud revenue on the supported capacity. The economic alignment model, which combines revenue sharing with credit support, lets Firmus source Nvidia infrastructure for AI-native enterprise and ISV customers. Firmus expects $25 billion to $30 billion from committed offtake agreements during the first six years of the partnership.

Three weeks ago, Firmus announced two further AI factories in Malaysia, with OpenAI signed as an anchor customer. The new Southeast Asian facilities will run Nvidia's full-stack DSX platform, integrated with Firmus's proprietary HyperCube modules — modular units combining power, liquid cooling and mechanical systems to raise computing efficiency per watt.

"Meta's AI research and model development activities require infrastructure capable of supporting some of the world's most demanding AI workloads. Firmus' AI Factory build-out across Asia-Pacific has the scale to support and grow these ambitions," said Firmus co-founder and co-CEO Tim Rosenfeld.

IPO knock-on effects

The Meta agreement has directly affected Firmus's impending debut on the Australian Securities Exchange, because the company must update its information materials and prospectus to reflect the new deal. The institutional bookbuild has moved from October 6 to October 8, 2026, and the final listing date has shifted from October 22 to October 23, 2026.

According to a Capital Brief article citing anonymous sources, the Meta deal will add around US$750 million to Firmus's future annual earnings, strengthening the numbers underpinning its IPO pitch. Sources also indicate the expanded deal should lift Firmus's projected earnings before interest and taxes in two years by roughly 15%.

Firmus aims to raise $5 billion in the float, which would make it the second-largest IPO in Australian history, behind Telstra's 1997 privatization.

With five new AI factories due online within 24 months and the 360MW Batam campus targeted for late Q1 2027, Firmus now faces the task of converting its contracted pipeline with Meta, OpenAI and Nvidia-aligned cloud customers into operational capacity on that timetable.