Infratil shares advance as CDC partners with Nvidia and Firmus
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More news: Infratil shares rallied after the investor's part-owned data centre operator CDC announced a strategic partnership with AI chip giant Nvidia and Australian data centre owner Firmus Technologies.
Shares were up 5.7% to $11.01 at 12:30pm AEDT. The stock is down 4.8% in the calendar year.
CDC said it will work with Nvidia and Firmus to deliver Project Southgate in Tasmania, in what the company called "an unprecedented national AI infrastructure rollout".
CDC will act as the data centre provider for the Firmus' flagship project, with the aim of operating with "near-zero water consumption and powered by 100% renewable energy".
The first stage of the project is due to go live in the next six months, featuring 18,500 of the latest Nvidia GB300 graphics processing units.
Infratil's CDC agrees strategic partnership with Nvidia, Firmus
The news: Infratil's part-owned data centre developer CDC will announce today a new strategic partnership with US megacap Nvidia and Australian data centre owner Firmus Technologies.
The numbers: Infrastructure investor Infratil said the first stage of the new partnership is underpinned by around 40 megawatts of CDC data centre capacity to deliver "AI Factory" capability. This will be located at a CDC site in Melbourne and is expected to start being delivered by April 2026.
The context: The announcement, which is set to be made at the Nvidia AI Day in Sydney later today, follows a surge in demand for CDC's data centre campuses.
Infratil said CDC will look to leverage its footprint of existing and planned data centres to accommodate Firmus' growth plans.
Founded in 2019, Firmus closed a $330 million equity raise last month, with participation from Nvidia and Ellerston Capital. Now based in Singapore, the company's flagship AI compute campus 'Project Southgate' in Tasmania is set to serve as an energy-efficient data centre powered by renewable energy.
Infratil owns a 49.72% stake in CDC, which has grown into a leading data centre player in Australia and New Zealand.
What they said: "It is great to match CDC's homegrown capability in delivering world-leading data centres with the expertise of another Australian hi-tech innovator bringing AI capability to the market," said Infratil CEO Jason Boyes.
"Neocloud providers offer customers a new option for accessing AI factory computing capability. This is an emerging customer segment for CDC and underscores the rapid diversification of data centre demand more generally."
The sources: ASX, CDC media release
