Cisco has partnered with Australian neocloud provider Sharon AI Holdings and chip giant NVIDIA to launch what the companies describe as Australia’s first Secure AI Factory – sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure designed to keep data and processing on-shore.
The platform combines Cisco’s networking and security stack with NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell Ultra GPUs, alongside storage from VAST Data and hosting in Australian facilities operated by NEXTDC.
Sharon AI will provide customers with access to the infrastructure, including sandbox environments to develop and test AI applications.
“AI innovation is moving faster than ever, and Cisco is delivering the critical infrastructure Australia needs to move fast and adopt AI safely and securely,” Stefan Leitl (pictured, right, next to Chuck Robbins, Cisco’s chair and CEO), vice president and general manager at Cisco Australia and New Zealand, said in a 23 February statement.
“The Cisco Secure AI Factory enables enterprises and governments to harness their data for differentiation, unlocking innovation and competitive advantage, by strengthening sovereign capabilities and building a trustworthy AI ecosystem.”
The deployment is built around a core of 1,024 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs. High-performance compute clusters of this scale are increasingly seen as essential to compete in AI development, particularly as organisations seek to train models on sensitive or proprietary data.
James Manning, co-founder and CEO of Sharon AI – a subsidiary of SharonAI Holdings – said the partnership would accelerate enterprise adoption of AI across the region.
“We are excited to have partnered with Cisco and NVIDIA to accelerate enterprise AI and high-performance compute adoption throughout Asia-Pacific,” Manning (pictured, left) said.
“This 1,024 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra deployment has been architected and deployed alongside Cisco to ensure together we can bring unprecedented value to customers.”
Manning added that further expansion is planned, with additional AI clusters expected in 2026 and beyond.
David Hollingworth
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.