A substantial cloud computing agreement valued at approximately $950 million has been secured by Sharon AI, an Australian neocloud firm. This five-year deal with a prominent global technology company highlights the increasing demand for AI infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
As part of the partnership, Sharon AI will deploy its cloud solutions at NEXTDC data centers across Australia, with revenue from these services expected to begin in late 2026. This strategic initiative aligns with a broader trend where emerging GPU cloud providers are positioning themselves as alternatives to traditional hyperscalers, focusing on delivering sovereign AI infrastructure tailored to specific enterprise and research needs.
James Manning, co-founder and CEO of Sharon AI, expressed enthusiasm about the new venture, stating, "We are thrilled to continue to expand our AI Cloud business, building and deploying the latest cloud computing infrastructure in Australia with NEXTDC and Vast Data. This contract follows on from our previously announced agreements in the region, and our customer pipeline continues to grow. We continue to see strong demand across enterprise, hyperscale, research and AI native sectors throughout Australia and Asia-Pacific."
The deployment will utilize the Vast Data AI Operating System, designed to enhance workload management efficiency for organizations. This collaboration not only showcases advancements in AI infrastructure but also addresses growing concerns about data sovereignty, latency, and the availability of GPU resources.
Sharon AI’s partnership with NEXTDC and Vast Data signifies a market shift towards integrated solutions that combine colocation, accelerated computing, and AI-optimized storage. As enterprises increasingly seek dedicated AI cloud capacity, the rise of neoclouds is becoming essential to the evolving AI infrastructure ecosystem.
Sharon AI is not alone in this pursuit. The company recently partnered with Cisco and NVIDIA to launch Australia’s first Cisco Secure AI Factory, a facility aimed at providing secure and high-performance AI infrastructure. This collaboration reflects a broader industry trend toward enhancing AI-driven infrastructure capabilities, with neocloud providers gaining traction as key players in the market.
The $950 million deal marks not just a financial milestone for Sharon AI but also a significant moment for localized AI infrastructure in Australia. As demand for sovereign AI solutions grows, Sharon AI is well-positioned to meet the needs of enterprises navigating this shifting landscape, further solidifying its role in the expanding neocloud segment of the AI infrastructure sector.
