SambaNova SN50: A New Era in AI Infrastructure
SouthernCrossAI (SCX) has integrated into the Equinix Fabric AI ecosystem, enhancing Australia’s sovereign AI capabilities. This partnership allows SCX’s ASIC-powered inference nodes to be accessible to enterprises and government agencies across the region.
By incorporating SCX into Equinix’s ecosystem, organisations can securely connect directly to its ASIC-accelerated inference nodes through Equinix Fabric, bypassing public internet infrastructure. This ensures data remains within Australian borders, adhering to local data sovereignty requirements.
Chris Johnston, Interim Managing Director of Equinix Australia, remarked, “SCX provides a locally governed, high-performance inferencing capability that meets Australia’s data sovereignty requirements.”
National Rollout with SambaNova SN50
SCX confirmed the use of SambaNova’s SN50 Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit in its national expansion. This SN50 unit, designed for agentic AI inference, offers five times the speed and three times the throughput of comparable GPUs, while maintaining lower power usage.
The deployment will enable SCX to support models with up to ten trillion parameters and allow rapid model switching. This technology will be deployed across Equinix facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and other locations.
Harry Ault, Chief Revenue Officer at SambaNova, stated, “The deployment of the SN50 across SCX’s national network will be a defining moment for Australian AI.” Ault recently visited Sydney to discuss the strategic partnership and future deployments with key stakeholders.
The rollout will continue throughout 2026 and 2027, with new nodes progressively coming online, strengthening Australia’s position in the AI space. SCX’s infrastructure will be accessible through Equinix Fabric, supporting a variety of AI applications.
SCX’s existing operational node at Equinix’s SY5 IBX data centre in Sydney forms the foundation for this expansion. Future nodes confirmed at Equinix facilities across Australia will extend sovereign inferencing capacity to enterprise and government customers.
This move enhances the AI ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region, allowing organisations to establish secure, low-latency, private connections directly to SCX’s nodes without transiting public internet infrastructure.
David Keane, CEO & Co-Founder of SCX, emphasised, “Scaling Australian AI by keeping data onshore makes world-class inference available where Australian data already resides.”
