AI company set to become Tasmania's biggest power user

Firmus's site in the Launceston suburb of St Leonards, where it is building an AI factory. (Supplied: Tasmanian government) Firmus Technologies is building an "AI factory" in Launceston, and plans for two more factories in Tasmania have come to light. The company is looking to build facilities at Bell Bay in the state's north and Wesley Vale in the north-west. Firmus has submitted a development application for the Wesley Vale site and one for the former pulp mill location at Bell Bay. Link copiedShareShare articleAn artificial intelligence (AI) company will become Tasmania's biggest power user if its ambitions to establish three "AI factories" in the state come to fruition. Singapore-based Firmus Technologies is building an AI factory in the Launceston suburb of St Leonards, which is expected to be operational early next year. Firmus has said the factory will contain data centre infrastructure and specialised computers that use graphics processing units to produce "AI tokens" needed for tools such as generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. Construction is underway at St Leonards for Firmus's AI factory. (ABC News: Morgan Timms) Now, the Tasmanian government has revealed Firmus's plans for two more AI factories. Responding to questions from the Greens in budget estimates earlier this month, Energy Minister Nick Duigan said Firmus wanted to set up facilities at Bell Bay, north of Launceston, and at Wesley Vale in the state's north-west. Firmus also plans to build facilities in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Canberra. Latrobe Council told the ABC it had received a development application for the Wesley Vale proposal, and that its planning team would need to assess the documents before the application could go before council. The council understands Firmus intends to use part of the old paper mill site. A satellite image of Mill Park in Wesley Vale, where the paper mill used to be. (Google Maps) Firmus confirmed its interest in building in those areas, but did not respond to questions about whether it had bought the old pulp and paper mill sites. "Firmus continues to assess potential sites in Tasmania, including in the George Town and Wesley Vale regions, as part of its long-term growth plans," the company said in a statement. "Site selection is guided by access to power, transmission connectivity, planning pathways and alignment with government policy." Premier Jeremy Rockliff with Tim Rosenfield and Oliver Curtis, the co-CEOs of Firmus Technologies. (Supplied: Tasmanian government) Many AI companies are increasingly looking to Australia to build their infrastructure due to its access to renewable energy, and Firmus has said Tasmania was considered particularly ideal due to its cold climate, which meant less cooling was required. TasICT, which advocates for the technology sector in Tasmania, said AI infrastructure would benefit the state. "Tasmania is going through a digital economy boom. Every sector is using more and more technology and jobs are increasingly relying upon it," chief executive Russell Kelly said. Russell Kelly says AI companies must be transparent with the communities where they are looking to build AI infrastructure. (ABC News: Cameron Atkins) But he said AI companies needed to be transparent with the public, which did not generally trust AI, to gain social licence for their facilities. Firmus has signed a contract with state energy company Aurora for 104 megawatts to power the St Leonards AI factory through hydro energy, which the government said would not impact power prices for residents. Questions have previously been asked about how Firmus has secured so much power while the Boyer Paper Mill near Hobart, which currently uses 100 megawatts has been unable to secure an additional 45 megawatts to install electric boilers. Inside one of Firmus's AI factories in Singapore. (Supplied: Firmus) "Boyer has continued to talk to Hydro about power. It's not about the availability of power; it is a discussion around the pricing of power," he told estimates. A new report concludes the AI-fuelled surge of power-hungry data centres across Australia is jeopardising the country's energy transition. Mr Duigan revealed Firmus would require about 400 megawatts in total to power the three sites, which would make it the largest power user in the state. An energy consultant said 400 megawatts represented about 20 per cent of the state's current energy use, or more than the combined demand of all Tasmanian households. The Greens are concerned about the "enormous" power requirements. "Exactly where the power is going to be coming from for all of those factories is still a really big question," the Greens MP for Lyons, Tabatha Badger, said. Greens MP Tabatha Badger wants to know where the 400 megawatts Firmus will require for the three sites will come from. (ABC News: Luke Bowden) Aurora Energy and Hydro Tasmania would not reveal the price Firmus was paying for power, but the company said it

AI company set to become Tasmania's biggest power user

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