Architecture Relocation: OpenAI Rents Computing Power in Malaysian Data Centers

The infrastructural geography of AI is rapidly shifting towards Asia. On September 8, 2026, Australian company Firmus announced that OpenAI had become its anchor customer, chartering dedicated computing power at two new `AI Factories` in Malaysia.

The deal brought Firmus's total contracted capacity to 900 MW. For OpenAI, this is a pragmatic geopolitical maneuver. Locating clusters in Southeast Asia provides the lab with access to cheaper electricity and reduces the logistical risks of NVIDIA component supply chains, bypassing the bottlenecks of US power grids. Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia are forming a new macroeconomic belt of AI infrastructure where Western labs are physically deploying their algorithms to serve the colossal Asian corporate sector.

Source: Firmus / Reuters