en.Wedoany.com Reported - Sharon AI has signed an agreement with VAST Data to deploy a 600 PB storage system for its sovereign AI cloud infrastructure. The two companies stated that this will be one of the largest sovereign AI data deployments in the Asia-Pacific region.

Under the agreement, VAST Data's AI operating system will serve as the primary data layer for Sharon AI's infrastructure. This infrastructure will serve governments, enterprises, research institutions, and AI customers in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region. Sharon AI noted that this deployment scale is equivalent to storing approximately 300 million hours of high-definition video content.

Sharon AI is currently in an expansion phase, having previously signed a six-year agreement with Nvidia and is preparing for a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. This partnership with VAST Data builds on the latter's existing business presence in Australia and New Zealand, following another agreement VAST Data signed with Megaport. Sharon AI stated that based on the industry benchmark requiring approximately 6 PB of AI storage per 1,000 GPUs for running large-scale workloads, a 600 PB deployment can support the data needs of about 100,000 graphics processing units. This will make the project one of the larger sovereign AI infrastructure construction projects in the region, especially as governments and regulated industries increasingly prefer to keep data processed within domestic borders. Sharon AI co-founder and CEO James Manning elaborated on the company's position. Manning stated that its customers will not compromise between maintaining data sovereignty and fully running AI, but need both at the highest level. He noted that standardizing the deployment of the VAST AI operating system at a 600 PB scale provides the company with a high-performance foundation that can be confidently scaled as sovereign AI demand accelerates in the Asia-Pacific region. VAST Data founder and CEO Renen Hallak stated that every breakthrough achieved by Sharon AI depends on data, and its speed and security depend on the underlying foundation. He noted that as the data foundation for Sharon AI's sovereign cloud, VAST AI OS transforms vast data assets into real-time intelligence assets while respecting sovereign boundaries.

The agreement targets the segment of the AI market where data residency and control are critical. Sovereign cloud services aim to keep sensitive information within national borders and comply with local governance rules, while providing the computing resources needed for AI model training and inference. For Sharon AI, demand comes from industries where data location, access rights, and mobility are as important as processing power. Its customer base includes governments, research institutions, and enterprises, which typically face stricter privacy, security, and operational regulatory requirements.

This deployment also reflects a trend shift in AI infrastructure planning. As organizations continue to invest in large language models, data-intensive analytics, and automation systems, storage architecture is becoming a strategic issue alongside chip usage and data center power. The software will provide a shared data foundation for multiple customers using the same cloud environment, with features including multi-tenancy, customer isolation, service guarantees, elastic scaling, and monitoring tools for managing ultra-large datasets.

VAST Data stated that its architecture is designed to avoid bottlenecks that may occur when hyperscale AI workloads access shared data. The system uses a single global namespace, allowing processors to directly access data without moving data copies between different storage pools.

The agreement comes as Australian tech groups and policymakers push for more domestic AI infrastructure to reduce reliance on overseas cloud providers. This creates opportunities for operators that can combine local hosting with the scale needed to support advanced AI workloads. Sharon AI is positioning itself as a local operator in this market, serving customers who want to keep data within Australia or the Asia-Pacific region. The partnership with VAST Data strengthens its technical foundation, helping it compete for more contracts in regulated and data-sensitive areas.

For VAST Data, the partnership adds a large regional customer in a market where AI infrastructure demand is growing. The company continues to expand its business in Australia and New Zealand, and the deal with Sharon AI provides an important reference in the sovereign cloud deployment space.

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