Nvidia-supported Firmus 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 company Firmus has successfully secured $505 million at a $5.5 billion valuation, claiming it will be its final pre-IPO funding round. The company is now aiming for a $2 billion listing on the ASX in June or July, supported by a $10 billion debt facility led by Blackstone, which was secured in February, along with plans to deploy 1.6 gigawatts of liquid-cooled AI computing across Australia by 2028.

      Firmus Technologies, an Australian firm supported by Nvidia and dedicated to creating AI Factories powered by renewable energy, has raised $505 million in new equity at a valuation of $5.5 billion in preparation for an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange later this year. The fundraising, announced on April 6, 2026, was led by Coatue Management, with continued involvement from Nvidia. This marks the third equity round completed by Firmus in just six months, raising approximately $1.35 billion in total during this timeframe.

      The IPO, anticipated for June or July, aims to generate an additional $2 billion and, if realized, would rank among the largest technology IPOs in Australian history. Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgans Financial, and Morgan Stanley are currently conducting a non-deal roadshow with potential investors in preparation for this event.

      Firmus’s main project is Project Southgate, a $4.5 billion initial construction initiative centered on a specially designed campus in Launceston, northern Tasmania. The campus will feature modular, fully liquid-cooled AI Factories optimized for running Nvidia’s GPU clusters densely, eventually accommodating 36,000 Nvidia GB300 Grace Blackwell chips. The first phase, providing 90 megawatts of AI infrastructure, is expected to be completed in 2026.

      Tasmania’s location is strategic, as the grid primarily relies on hydroelectric power, giving Firmus a credible low-carbon computing footprint that most data center operators can't match. The company claims its liquid-cooling technology can reduce energy usage by up to 60% compared to traditional air-cooled facilities and halve construction costs. If these efficiencies are sustained at scale, they could significantly improve the economics of large AI training operations, which consume substantial power.

      Project Southgate is set to expand beyond Tasmania into a nationwide network, with additional sites in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Perth, aiming for a total capacity of 1.6 gigawatts across five Australian locations by 2028. The complete rollout, developed alongside Nvidia and listed data center operator CDC Data Centres, is projected to cost $73.3 billion, reflecting both the capital-intensive nature of AI infrastructure and the ambition of the national expansion.

      Debt is only one component of Firmus’s financial structure. In February 2026, the company secured a $10 billion debt financing facility led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Credit & Insurance, along with further backing from Coatue. This deal marks one of the largest private credit transactions in Australian history and was structured as long-dated infrastructure debt, suitable for the bankability of contracted AI data center assets and the interest of private credit in the AI infrastructure cycle.

      The funds will support the national growth of Project Southgate. Kirkland & Ellis advised Blackstone on the transaction. The combination of this $10 billion facility with the equity raised in the past six months places Firmus in a strong financial position that is uncommon for a company at its stage, enabling it to initiate construction on multiple sites simultaneously ahead of the IPO.

      The significant private credit committed to AI infrastructure has become a key feature of the current investment cycle, similar to how SoftBank's $40 billion bridge loan fueled its OpenAI investment: the need for computing power is expanding faster than any single company can fund through equity alone, leading institutional lenders to offer long-term capital against contracted revenues from hyperscalers and AI labs.

      Nvidia's involvement with Firmus is unique, acting as both a strategic investor and the main chip supplier for all facilities the company constructs. Nvidia invested during Firmus’s $330 million fundraising in late 2025 when the company's valuation was $1.9 billion. The latest $505 million raise increased the valuation to $5.5 billion within a span of six months. This partnership aligns their interests: as Firmus grows, Nvidia has more opportunities to deliver GB300 systems.

      Project Southgate is built on Nvidia’s DSX reference architecture, a deployment standard tailored for high-density AI computing environments. Nvidia's growing role as the foundational infrastructure provider for most cutting-edge AI computing, through its hardware or strategic partnerships, underscores the broader trend in AI infrastructure development. Moreover, Nvidia's enterprise AI platform enhances integration at both software and enterprise levels, making the GPU manufacturer increasingly difficult to replace, despite competition from custom silicon by Google and Broadcom.

      Firmus was co-founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield, and Jonathan Levee