Firmus and SUBCO announce major Trans-Pacific AI connectivity agreement

SYDNEY, Australia – Sept 3, 2026

Australian technology companies Firmus and SUBCO today announced that Firmus will become a cornerstone customer on SUBCO's APX East submarine cable system once it's built, securing dedicated Trans-Pacific connectivity between Australia and the United States to support the next generation of AI training and inference.

Under the agreement, Firmus will make an approximately US$300 million investment and secure up to 150 terabits per second (Tbps) of dedicated capacity over 25 years on APX East.

The commitment will provide a major new connectivity layer for Firmus' growing Australian AI Factory network, linking AI infrastructure in Australia directly with the United States and global markets.

The agreement reflects the accelerating demand for international connectivity from Asia-Pacific, driven by AI workloads. As AI adoption scales, international connectivity to enable token delivery is becoming as critical as access to compute itself. Training advanced models and serving AI inference tokens globally both depend on the ability to move enormous volumes of data reliably between regions.

Firmus' gigascale AI Factory build programme across Australia is creating a new type of export market for the Australian economy – the production and sale of AI tokens. With this investment, Firmus is securing the delivery path of these tokens for decades to come.

APX East is SUBCO's next-generation express Trans-Pacific cable system, designed to provide an independent, direct route between Australia and the United States. To be built using the latest subsea cable technologies, the system is designed to deliver the performance, capacity and resilience required for the next generation of AI infrastructure while strengthening Australia's sovereign digital capability.

Firmus' commitment represents one of the largest investments in dedicated international AI connectivity by an Australian company.

Bevan Slattery, Founder and Co-CEO of SUBCO, said:

"The connectivity requirements of AI are fundamentally reshaping demand patterns on international subsea routes. Firmus' decision to anchor capacity on APX East validates what we've been working toward – building the secure hyper-connectivity needed across the Indo-Pacific region for the next generation.

"With millions of AI GPUs planned across the region in the next two to three years, generating petabits of tokens per second, AI Factories are front and centre of that need. Firmus is leading that charge, and we are delighted to be their trusted partner."

Tim Rosenfield, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Firmus, said:

"This is a 25-year investment in Australia's future. AI is fast becoming one of Australia's next major export industries, but that opportunity will only be realised if we invest in the infrastructure that underpins it.

"At Firmus, we're building a network of AI Factories across Australia. But building the compute is only part of the challenge. We also need to reliably connect that infrastructure to the world.

"Securing up to 150 terabits per second of dedicated capacity gives us the scale and performance to connect Australian AI infrastructure directly with the United States, ensuring the AI infrastructure we build here can reliably serve the world's leading AI-Natives."

Slattery said the agreement brings together two Australian companies with a shared ambition for the region's digital infrastructure.

"We share Firmus' vision for what Australian-built infrastructure can achieve on the global stage. Working with them on this project is a natural fit – two Australian companies working together to deliver the connectivity that underpins our region's digital future."

APX East is expected to be Ready for Service in Q4 2028 and will play a key role in connecting Firmus' Australian AI Factory network with customers across the United States, supporting Australia's ambition to become a global destination for AI infrastructure.

About SUBCO

SUBCO is a leading developer, owner and operator of next-generation submarine cable infrastructure. Since its founding in 2016, SUBCO has delivered some of the world's most innovative and strategically significant cable systems – including INDIGO West, INDIGO Central, the Oman Australia Cable (OAC) and SMAP, with a recently announced extension to Tasmania (Bernacchi-1) on track for RFS Q2 2027. APX East, a direct Australia–US express system, is currently in development with an RFS target of 2028.

Through this growing portfolio, SUBCO has played a pivotal role in expanding Australia's international connectivity, strengthening the nation's position as a major digital hub in the Indo-Pacific region.

About Firmus

Firmus Grid Limited, trading as Firmus Technologies, is an AI infrastructure company built on a simple idea: energy in and tokens out – as efficiently as possible. Vertically integrated from model to grid, Firmus uses proprietary energy and cooling technology to build and deliver next-gen infrastructure with scale, reliability and performance. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Firmus provides AI cloud services across Asia Pacific and beyond.

Follow @firmustechnologies on LinkedIn.

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Kate McLaughlin
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Roger Newby
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INVESTORS
Toby Langley
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+61 450 223 995