Oct 16, 2025 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
Australian AI cloud firm Firmus is planning expansion across Australia in partnering with local operator CDC Data Centres. The company said the partnership could extend its capacity to 1.6GW under an initiative known as Project Southgate. As well as the existing project in Tasmania, deployments are planned in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Perth.
The project will total an initial investment of AU$4.5 billion (US$2.9bn), with potential to scale up to A$73.3 billion (US$47.68bn) and 1.6GW of operational capacity through 2028.
"Project Southgate is a blueprint for how Australia can lead the world in scalable, sovereign AI infrastructure. We’re building a new kind of national capability—Australian-designed, powered by renewables, and ready to meet global demand for energy-efficient intelligence,” said Oliver Curtis, co-Founder and CEO of Firmus Technologies.
“CDC is proud to provide the data center infrastructure for Project Southgate and play a critical role in positioning Australia as a leader in sustainable AI. This project will create tens of thousands of safe, high-paying Australian jobs across trades, construction, operations, and knowledge work and send a clear signal that Australians can benefit from applying ingenuity, innovation, and world-leading designs to shape the future of AI,” added Greg Boorer, CEO and founder, CDC.
"Australia is embarking on a transformative journey powered by sovereign AI infrastructure that can accelerate innovation across its industries. Firmus’s Nvidia AI infrastructure will support Australia’s leadership in building and deploying efficient, sustainable AI to solve its greatest challenges and shape the next generation of growth,” said Raymond Teh, SVP for Asia Pacific at Nvidia.
