AI cloud provider Fluidstack and Macquarie Group have announced a strategic financing deal to supply European AI research labs with GPUs.
The deal was agreed via the two companies’ specialised and asset finance divisions. Plans to expand the collaboration are underway, with a focus on developing new financing models to meet the needs of AI companies.
According to a statement, the financing structure will see Fluidstack provide flexible AI compute to customers, allowing them to scale their infrastructure for training and model deployment without being locked into long-term contracts.
“Fluidstack’s dedication to supporting AI research aligns with our vision for innovative financing solutions,” said Lou Tricarico, managing director in Macquarie’s specialized and asset finance division. “Together, we're setting a new standard for how AI infrastructure can be funded and deployed.”
Founded in 2017 at Oxford University, Fluidstack claims to have more than 100,000 GPUs under management, with the company's infrastructure used by the likes of Mistral, Character.AI, Poolside, and Black Forest Labs.
Earlier this year, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the French government to build an AI supercomputer in a facility with more than 1GW of dedicated AI compute capacity. It is expected to host close to 500,000 AI chips in its first phase.
Earlier this week, Fluidstack announced it was teaming up with Nvidia, Dell, and Borealis Data Center to deploy exascale GPU clusters at Borealis's data centers in Iceland and the Nordics. The clusters will comprise Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers with Nvidia HGX H200 GPUs, connected via Nvidia Quantum-2 InfiniBank.
