SCX.ai launches Australia's first sovereign AI node

Australian full-stack AI provider SCX.ai has gone live with Australia’s first sovereign AI infrastructure node in Sydney. The deployment at the Equinix SY5 International Business Exchange data centre at Alexandria has been designed to provide AI inferencing at 10 times the efficiency of traditional GPU-based systems while eliminating the need for water cooling.

The deployment also marks Australia’s entry into sovereign AI infrastructure, SCX.ai said, as it can offer enterprises and government agencies locally hosted AI processing that meets strict data residency requirements at a low carbon footprint.

SCX.ai founder and CEO David Keane said this represents a fundamental shift in how Australia can deploy AI at scale.

“We’re delivering enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that doesn’t require massive water consumption for cooling and operates at a fraction of the energy cost of GPU-based systems,” he said. “For Australian organisations handling sensitive data, this means they can finally run advanced AI workloads onshore without compromise.”

Financial services, healthcare, government sectors and others operating under Australian data protection regulations will be able to take advantage of the platform for AI inferencing without having to transmit data to offshore facilities. The location in Sydney’s main digital corridor will also provide Australian organisations with ultra-low latency and high response times for real-time AI applications.

The node has been built on ASIC-accelerated architecture through the company’s partnership with SambaNova systems. IT infrastructure provider Servers Australia is providing local technical support and managed services for the deployment.

As well as supporting customer AI applications, the infrastructure will power SCX.ai’s Australian-focused large language model Project MAGPIE, which is being designed to better understand Australian slang, terminology, context and cultural nuances.

The node is the first in a planned national network, with additional locations scheduled for deployment throughout the rest of the year.

Image: Equinix SY5 data centre in Alexandria. Credit: Equinix.