US tech giant Oracle has entered into a six-year supply agreement worth A$2.3bn ($1.65bn) with Australian modular data centre maker Datapod as it increases capacity for its global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Under the terms of the deal, Datapod, based in Canberra, will provide, install and service modular data centre infrastructure across the US and Europe.
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Oracle is set to spend A$100m ($71.7m) over the next 12 months.
The overall contract pipeline is projected to total A$2.3bn ($1.65bn) by 2030, with Oracle intending to roll out Datapod’s systems worldwide.
The contract with Datapod is part of Oracle’s wider push to expand its international cloud and AI data centre footprint.
As part of its expansion plans, the company intends to build 37 data centres globally this year.
Datapod has been operating for more than 20 years and has mainly supplied Australian government and military intelligence customers.
The company had been in talks with Oracle for more than two years before reaching the agreement.
The arrangement is Datapod’s first deal with a hyperscale technology platform.
Oracle, which is a major OpenAI partner, is increasing its data centre network as demand for AI computing infrastructure continues to grow.
Its OpenAI-related partnership is expected to support infrastructure development worth as much as $300bn in the years ahead, including $50bn scheduled for this year.
The Datapod deal places the company among a growing group of Australian AI infrastructure suppliers, alongside businesses including Firmus Technologies and Sharon AI.
Datapod’s modular systems are commonly used in remote and industrial settings, such as mining sites, where fast deployment is needed.
Oracle, which Larry Ellison co-founded in 1977, recently reported quarterly cloud revenue of $8bn and said it has $130bn in contracted revenue.
