Firmus Technologies has announced a strategic alliance with CDC Data Centres and NVIDIA to expand Project Southgate, its large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure programme that aims to deliver sovereign AI capability powered entirely by renewable energy. The expansion extends the project’s planned capacity to 1.6 gigawatts across Australia and introduces the company’s “AI Factory” platform to the mainland.
The initiative is described as a major step in advancing Australia’s digital sovereignty, energy transition, and AI capability. The partners say the project will create thousands of jobs in construction, advanced manufacturing and operations, while supporting the development of new renewable energy projects nationwide.
“Project Southgate is a blueprint for how Australia can lead the world in scalable, sovereign AI infrastructure,” said Oliver Curtis, Co-CEO of Firmus Technologies. “We’re building a new kind of national capability – Australian-designed, powered by renewables, and ready to meet global demand for energy-efficient intelligence.”
The first stages of Project Southgate are under way in Tasmania and Melbourne. The initial phase, valued at AUD 4.5 billion, includes a 150-megawatt build at Southgate Melbourne featuring 18,500 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. These units have been ordered and are expected to come online by April 2026. The infrastructure will be made available to enterprise, education, government, start-ups, and scale-ups through the Firmus AI Cloud platform.
Firmus said the project will be powered entirely by renewable energy and could enable up to 5.1GW of new wind, solar, storage and hydro generation across Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT by 2028. The company added that its network of AI Factories will provide long-term energy demand certainty, helping to accelerate the nation’s progress towards net zero emissions.
Renewable grid
The flagship Green AI Factory Campus in Tasmania will connect directly to the state’s renewable grid and is expected to bolster the business case for major transmission projects such as Marinus Link.
NVIDIA’s DGX Cloud will be one of the first services to run on the Southgate infrastructure. The alliance will establish a DGX Cloud region at Southgate Melbourne, providing users with access to high-performance, energy-efficient AI computing.
“Australia is embarking on a transformative journey powered by sovereign AI infrastructure that can accelerate innovation across its industries,” said Raymond Teh, senior vice president, Asia Pacific at NVIDIA. “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.”
CDC Data Centres will provide the physical infrastructure to host Project Southgate. The company said its facilities are designed to ensure high levels of security, reliability and sustainability, operating with near-zero water consumption.
“CDC is proud to provide the data centre infrastructure for Project Southgate and play a critical role in positioning Australia as a leader in sustainable AI,” said Greg Boorer, founder and CEO of CDC Data Centres. “This project will create tens of thousands of safe, high-paying Australian jobs across trades, construction, operations and knowledge work.”
According to Firmus, Project Southgate will scale up to AUD 73.3 billion in investment through 2028. The company estimates the initiative will create up to 20,700 direct jobs and establish Australia as a significant exporter of sustainable AI services.
Damian Kassabgi, CEO of the Tech Council of Australia, said the project represents “a major step toward a sustainable digital future for Australia and a great example of innovation in practice,” adding that it demonstrates the role of research and development in positioning the country to capitalise on global opportunities in AI and data centre technology.