Firmus, supported by Nvidia, aims for a $2 billion IPO on the ASX following a $505 million fundraising and a $10 billion debt from Blackstone.

      In summary: Australian AI data center firm Firmus has secured $505 million at a valuation of $5.5 billion during what it claims to be its final funding round before going public. The company aims for a $2 billion listing on the ASX in June or July, supported by a $10 billion debt facility led by Blackstone that was secured in February and a plan to implement 1.6 gigawatts of liquid-cooled AI computing throughout Australia by 2028.

      Firmus Technologies, an Australian company backed by Nvidia and focused on creating AI Factories powered by renewable energy, has raised $505 million in equity at a $5.5 billion valuation in anticipation of its initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange later this year. The funding round, announced on April 6, 2026, was led by Coatue Management with ongoing participation from Nvidia, marking the third equity round Firmus has completed in six months, bringing its total equity raised during that timeframe to around $1.35 billion.

      The expected IPO in June or July aims to collect an additional $2 billion, and if successful at this level, it would rank among the largest technology listings in Australia's history. A non-deal roadshow is currently underway this week with Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgans Financial, and Morgan Stanley presenting to potential investors in preparation.

      From Tasmania to a national grid

      Firmus’s main project is Project Southgate, a $4.5 billion initial construction initiative focused on a specially designed campus in Launceston, northern Tasmania. This facility is being constructed as a campus of modular, fully liquid-cooled AI Factories intended to operate Nvidia’s GPU clusters at high density, eventually accommodating 36,000 Nvidia GB300 Grace Blackwell chips. The first phase, which aims to deliver 90 megawatts of AI infrastructure, is set for completion in 2026.

      The choice of Tasmania is strategic, as the state’s grid is predominantly powered by hydroelectric energy, enabling Firmus to assert a low-carbon compute footprint that many data center operators cannot offer. The company claims its liquid-cooling technology decreases energy consumption by up to 60% compared to standard air-cooled facilities and halves construction costs. If proven scalable, these metrics can significantly improve the economics of large AI training processes, known for their substantial energy demands.

      Project Southgate plans to extend from Tasmania into a national network, adding sites in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Perth to achieve a total capacity of 1.6 gigawatts across five Australian locations by 2028. The entire initiative, developed in collaboration with Nvidia and publicly listed operator CDC Data Centres, carries an estimated build cost of $73.3 billion, reflecting the capital-intensive nature of AI infrastructure as well as the ambition behind the national rollout.

      The $10 billion Blackstone debt facility

      Equity contributes only partially to the financial structure supporting Firmus’s expansion. In February 2026, the firm finalized a $10 billion debt financing facility led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Credit & Insurance, with additional support from Coatue. This constitutes one of the largest private credit deals in Australia’s history and was arranged as long-term infrastructure debt, demonstrating the reliability of contracted AI data center assets and private credit’s interest in AI infrastructure.

      The funding is designated for the national growth of Project Southgate. Kirkland & Ellis advised Blackstone throughout the transaction. The combination of the $10 billion facility with the equity raised over six months gives Firmus a solid financial position that is remarkable for a company at its stage, and it allows for simultaneous groundwork on multiple sites prior to the IPO.

      The flood of private credit towards AI infrastructure has emerged as a defining characteristic of the current investment cycle, paralleling SoftBank’s $40 billion bridge loan for its commitment to OpenAI: the demand for compute is escalating beyond what any single company can support solely with equity, prompting institutional lenders to provide longer-term capital against assured revenue from hyperscalers and AI labs.

      Nvidia as investor and supplier

      Nvidia’s involvement with Firmus is notable as both a strategic investor and the main chip supplier for all the facilities the firm constructs. Nvidia began investing in Firmus during its $330 million funding round in late 2025 when the valuation was $1.9 billion. The latest $505 million raise places the company’s value at $5.5 billion, demonstrating a nearly threefold increase in about six months. Nvidia’s investment reflects aligned interests, as the quicker Firmus expands, the greater the demand for GB300 systems from Nvidia.

      Project Southgate utilizes Nvidia’s DSX reference architecture, a deployment standard tailored for high-density AI computing environments. Nvidia's growing role as the foundational layer for most advanced AI compute—whether through its own hardware or strategically supported partners—resonates throughout the entire AI infrastructure development. Nvidia’s enterprise AI platform continues to enhance this integration at both the software and enterprise levels,