Nvidia-backed Firmus hits $5.5B valuation with $505M raise, eyes $2B ASX IPO in June

Firmus Raises $505 Million at $5.5 Billion Valuation in Final Pre-IPO Round

Firmus, the Australian AI data center company backed by Nvidia, has secured $505 million funding in a round led by Coatue Management, valuing the startup at $5.5 billion 1

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. This marks the company's third and final pre-IPO round, bringing total capital raising to approximately $1.35 billion in just six months 2

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. Nvidia participated in the latest round, doubling down on its strategic investment in the Singapore-based company that previously raised AU$330 million at an AU$1.85 billion valuation 1

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. The rapid valuation increase from $1.2 billion to $5.5 billion in roughly six months reflects investor appetite for AI infrastructure assets that can deliver high-density compute capacity at scale.

ASX IPO Targets $2 Billion as Banks Launch Investor Roadshow

Firmus is preparing for an ASX IPO expected in June or July that would seek to raise an additional $2 billion, potentially ranking among the largest technology listings in Australian history 3

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. Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgans Financial, and Morgan Stanley are conducting a non-deal roadshow with potential investors this week 4

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. The decision to list on the Australian Securities Exchange is notable, as prominent Australian tech companies have typically favored non-Australian exchanges, making Firmus a rare domestic tech listing 4

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. Sources close to the company indicated management was scrambling to finalize the third tranche of its pre-IPO capital raising ahead of their maiden pitch to Asia-Pacific investors 5

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Project Southgate Builds AI Factory Network Across Australia and Tasmania

The company's flagship initiative, Project Southgate, centers on a $4.5 billion construction program anchored by a purpose-built campus in Launceston, northern Tasmania 3

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. This AI factory will eventually house 36,000 Nvidia GB300 Grace Blackwell chips, with the first stage delivering 90 megawatts of AI infrastructure targeted for completion in 2026 2

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. The Tasmanian location provides access to a grid overwhelmingly powered by hydroelectric generation, giving Firmus a credible low-carbon compute footprint that most data center operators cannot match 3

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. Project Southgate is planned to expand into a national network with sites in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Perth, bringing total capacity to 1.6 gigawatts across five Australian locations by 2028 3

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Nvidia's Vera Rubin Platform Powers Energy-Efficient Data Centers

Firmus is developing its facilities using Nvidia's reference designs for building energy-efficient data centers, specifically deploying the Vera Rubin DSX platform—Nvidia's next-generation AI computing system succeeding its Blackwell architecture, expected to ship in the second half of 2026 1

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. The company's liquid-cooling technology reportedly reduces energy consumption by up to 60% compared with conventional air-cooled facilities and cuts construction costs by roughly half 3

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. These metrics matter significantly for the economics of large AI training runs, which rank among the most power-intensive industrial processes currently operating. Firmus's data centers are configured to align with Nvidia-based hardware and software architectures, allowing customers to deploy standardized environments for model training and inference 4

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$10 Billion Blackstone Debt Facility Funds National Expansion

In February 2026, Firmus closed a $10 billion debt financing facility led by funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Credit & Insurance, with additional support from Coatue 3

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. The deal represents one of the largest private credit transactions in Australian history and was structured as long-dated infrastructure debt, reflecting both the bankability of contracted AI data center assets and private credit's appetite for exposure to the AI infrastructure cycle 3

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. Combined with the equity raised across six months, this gives Nvidia-backed Firmus a funded position to break ground on multiple sites simultaneously ahead of the IPO. The full national program carries a projected build cost of $73.3 billion, a figure that reflects both the capital intensity of AI infrastructure and the ambition of the rollout 3

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Nvidia's Strategic Role Raises Questions About Circular Investments

Nvidia's role in Firmus is unusual: it serves as both a strategic investor and the primary chip supplier for every facility the company builds 3

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. As with other funding deals, Nvidia is backing companies that also purchase its products, leading some investors to express concern about the circular nature of these arrangements—something Nvidia has pushed back on 2

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. Nvidia, often in partnership with venture capital investors, has invested billions of dollars in AI companies to help cultivate an industry that has already fueled explosive sales growth and turned Nvidia into the world's most valuable business 2

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. The faster Firmus builds high-density data centers, the more GPU clusters and GB300 systems Nvidia ships.

Sovereign AI Push Aligns With Regional Data Sovereignty Requirements

The Australian effort dovetails with a push by Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang into sovereign AI—the building of local data centers that allow countries and companies to keep their information within national boundaries 2

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. Huang has touted this as a key area of growth for Nvidia's technology as governments increasingly prioritize data sovereignty. Firmus previously stated that Project Southgate has attracted a global hyperscaler customer, a term used to describe the largest cloud computing companies . The company's facilities are designed to accommodate clusters of graphics processing units interconnected through high-speed networking, alongside storage and cooling systems required for sustained workloads 4

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. Firmus originally provided cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining and has become another crypto-roots-turned-AI provider that investors favor 1

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. The deployment of liquid-cooled AI compute infrastructure powered by renewable energy positions Firmus to meet growing demand for sustainable, high-performance computing in the Asia-Pacific region.