Sovereign AI Factory
Building Australia's Sovereign AI Factory: Network Backbone and Interconnects
A practical architecture guide for Australia's Sovereign AI Factory network backbone, covering multi-site training and inference with onshore data residency and strict performance targets.
By SCX.ai Engineering Team7 min read
The Sovereign AI Factory relies on a high‑capacity, low‑latency backbone that securely links Australian data centres and edge sites. This post outlines a practical architecture for multi‑site training and inference that keeps data onshore while meeting strict performance targets.
Backbone Principles
- Dedicated optical wavelengths between sites with QoS for model traffic and control‑plane isolation
- Standards‑based interconnects (RoCE / InfiniBand) for east‑west AI workloads
- Deterministic latency budgets for ≤100ms inference to major capitals
- Path diversity and sovereign routing to avoid foreign jurisdiction exposure
Multi‑Region Design
We recommend a hub‑and‑spoke mesh across NSW and SA initially, expanding to WA, QLD and VIC. Control planes remain regionally isolated with cross‑region replication for resilience.
Key Takeaways
- Optical plus RoCE/InfiniBand delivers predictable throughput for AI clusters
- Sovereign routing avoids extraterritorial data access risk
- Edge POPs reduce median latency and egress costs for Australian users