Firmus Technologies Pty, a data center provider, is reportedly targeting an initial public offering (IPO) in Australia to raise as much as $5 billion. Sources familiar with the matter indicate the company aims for a listing by the end of October. This potential IPO size would make it one of the largest in Australia's history, second only to Telstra Corp's $10 billion flotation in 1997, and the fourth-largest globally this year behind SpaceX, CXMT Corp, and Cerebras Systems.
The company, which began as a Bitcoin miner in 2019 and is now headquartered in Singapore, pivoted to AI infrastructure. Firmus has already secured significant investments, including $2 billion in equity in its latest funding round, which pushed its post-money valuation above $10.5 billion. Participants in this August round included Nvidia and Coatue Management, with backing from Blackstone's funds and Jane Street. Nvidia's involvement also includes a separate deal to provide cost-effective access to computing power for emerging AI firms.
Firmus has begun investor meetings in Asia, with plans to visit Europe and the United States before holding meetings in Australia. The international roadshow is expected to last two weeks. Despite the aggressive expansion plans, including a 1.6 gigawatt Project Southgate across five Australian locations by 2028 and a 360MW site in Batam, Indonesia, a Firmus spokesperson declined to comment on the IPO plans. The exact size and timing of the offering could still change as deliberations are ongoing.
