Neocloud profile
Firmus
Firmus is an Australian neocloud and AI-factory developer with two sites operating, in Melbourne and Singapore, and projects in Tasmania, South Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia. It is due to list on the ASX on 23 October 2026.
Founded: 2019; legal entity Firmus Grid Limited, trading as Firmus Technologies (company boilerplate, September 2026). Headquarters: Sydney, with operations across Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Co-CEOs: Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield.
Key figures
- 23 Oct 2026 planned ASX listing, IPO term sheet reported by Reuters, 1 October 2026
- About 1.6GW liquid-cooled AI compute across Australia by 2028
- Above US$10.5bn company valuation, August 2026 round, company figure
Profile summary
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | AI-factory developer and operator, immersion cooled |
| Flagship | Project Southgate, three Tasmanian sites: St Leonards at Launceston, Bell Bay at Long Reach and Wesley Vale. Launceston is consented for 90MW across Stage 1a at 44MW and Stage 1b (Launceston City Council, September 2025) |
| Tasmanian energy | Firmus holds a 104MW supply contract for Launceston through Aurora Energy and has asked Hydro Tasmania for a direct 450MW ten-year agreement covering the three Tasmanian sites; Hydro Tasmania expects to decide by the end of 2026 (ABC, 4 September 2026) |
| National plan | About 1.6GW of liquid-cooled AI compute across Australia by 2028 |
| GPU fleet | Roughly 36,800 NVIDIA GB300 in Tasmania and about 18,400 in Melbourne (company, 2 March 2026) |
| Platform | Sustainable Metal Cloud immersion plus AI FactoryOS |
| Connectivity | Cornerstone customer on SUBCO's APX East cable between Australia and the United States, committing approximately US$300m for up to 150Tbps of dedicated capacity over 25 years, with the cable expected ready for service in Q4 2028 (company, 3 September 2026). Also a customer on SUBCO's Bernacchi-1 link between Tasmania and the mainland, expected operational Q2 2027 |
| Backers | Coatue, NVIDIA, Jane Street, Blackstone funds, Ellerston Capital, Regal Partners and Wilson Asset Management on equity, with a US$10 billion debt facility led by Blackstone (February 2026) |
| Status | Private; ASX listing due 23 October 2026 |
| Delivery capability | Agreed on 13 Aug 2026 to acquire the projects, design and fabrication businesses of Benmax, the Australian cooling and modular systems manufacturer it has worked with on AI infrastructure delivery in Australia and Asia since 2020. Completion is expected by the end of September 2026 |
| Named customers | A global hyperscale customer at Project Southgate (March 2026), Fireworks in the company's Asia-based AI Cloud Region (August 2026) and OpenAI, anchor customer for two AI factories in Malaysia under a multi-year agreement (September 2026) |
| Contracted capacity | More than 900MW across all customers and all countries, by the company's account at 8 September 2026 |
| Operating sites | Two, in Melbourne (its Brooklyn cluster, handed over to a customer in August 2026) and Singapore, with five more in development across the Asia-Pacific (company, 27 August and 8 September 2026) |
Facilities and capacity
Firmus's Australian AI-factory capacity is centred on Project Southgate, which is now three Tasmanian sites at Launceston, Bell Bay and Wesley Vale, alongside a Melbourne GPU deployment. At Bell Bay, Firmus is seeking to vary one condition of the council approval, Condition 13, which limits its 276 backup diesel generators to outages, testing and emergencies; the approval itself stands, and residents have separately appealed the approval. The ABC reported six appeals including Firmus's, with a resident appellant counting five on the tribunal's website (ABC News, 15 September 2026). Rows outside Australia are listed for completeness.
| Deployment | Location | Scale or scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Southgate, St Leonards | Launceston, Tasmania | 90MW consented across Stage 1a at 44MW and Stage 1b, September 2025 | Under construction |
| Project Southgate, Bell Bay | Former Gunns pulp mill land at Long Reach, Bell Bay, Tasmania | 288MW, which the company describes as the site's draw | Approved by George Town Council 25 August 2026 with 15 conditions; Firmus appealed the generator-use condition to TASCAT on 10 September 2026 and residents have appealed the approval |
| Project Southgate, Wesley Vale | Wesley Vale, Tasmania | Initial approximately 26MW growing to approximately 52MW of capacity, company figures | Development application lodged; Latrobe Council sought a major-project declaration 7 September 2026 |
| Southgate Melbourne | Brooklyn cluster, Melbourne | About 18,400 NVIDIA GB300 (company, 2 March 2026) | Operating; handed over to a customer, August 2026 |
| National multi-capital plan | Australian capitals | About 1.6GW of liquid-cooled AI compute across Australia by 2028 | Planned |
| Singapore AI factory, outside Australia | Singapore | Not disclosed | Operating (company, 8 September 2026) |
| Batam AI factory, outside Australia | Built with DayOne under an NVIDIA partnership, Batam, Indonesia | 360MW, sized for up to 170,000 NVIDIA GPUs | In development; first capacity targeted for the first quarter of 2027 (company, June 2026) |
| Malaysian AI factories, outside Australia | Firmus AI Factory sites, Malaysia | Two sites with OpenAI as anchor customer under a multi-year agreement; capacity, contract value, locations and ready-for-service dates undisclosed. NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 on the DSX platform integrated with the Firmus HyperCube | Announced 8 Sep 2026 |
Funding and investors
| Date | Round or agreement | Amount or scope | Counterparty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct 2026 (planned) | ASX IPO | A$7.1bn (about US$4.94bn), with an over-allotment option of up to US$500m (IPO term sheet reported by Reuters, 1 Oct 2026). A$11.00 a share; US$30.6bn equity value, about A$44bn at Reuters' exchange rate (term sheet reported by Reuters, 1 Oct 2026). Earlier report: near A$50bn (AFR and The Australian, 14 Sep 2026) | Lead managers Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Morgans |
| 7 Aug 2026 | Equity round | US$2bn. Fully subscribed; values the company above US$10.5bn once the new money is counted in, by the company's account | Coatue and NVIDIA follow-on, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and other Blackstone funds, Jane Street |
| Apr 2026 | Equity round | US$505m. US$5.5bn post-money, by the company's account | Led by Coatue, with NVIDIA |
| 9 Feb 2026 | Debt facility | US$10bn. Debt financing facility | Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, Blackstone Credit and Insurance and affiliated funds, with support from Coatue |
| 14 Nov 2025 | Equity round | A$500m. About A$6bn post-money, by the company's account | Morgans as sole lead manager |
| 16 Sep 2025 | Equity round | A$330m. A$1.85bn post-money, by the company's account | Ellerston Capital as cornerstone; NVIDIA joined as an investor |
Technology and platform
Firmus uses immersion and liquid cooling for high-density GPU deployments and attributes energy-reduction claims to its platform.
Sustainable Metal Cloud Hypercubes are used across STT GDC-linked deployments by the company's account.
AI FactoryOS is the company's software layer for managing AI-factory operations.
In August 2026 Firmus agreed to acquire the projects, design and fabrication businesses of Benmax, the Australian cooling and modular systems manufacturer it has worked with since 2020, bringing that build capability in-house. Completion is expected by the end of September 2026.
Firmus has named Fireworks as a customer of its AI Cloud under a multi-year agreement, deploying on Firmus AI Factory infrastructure using NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GB300 and Vera Rubin systems in the company's Asia-based AI Cloud Region.
Firmus is a cornerstone customer on SUBCO's APX East cable between Australia and the United States, committing approximately US$300m for up to 150Tbps of dedicated capacity over 25 years, with the cable expected ready for service in Q4 2028 (company, 3 September 2026). Also a customer on SUBCO's Bernacchi-1 link between Tasmania and the mainland, expected operational Q2 2027.
Leadership
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Oliver Curtis | Co-CEO |
| Tim Rosenfield | Co-CEO |
| Jonathan Levee | Co-founder |
How Firmus compares
| Company | Status or presence | Capacity or commitment | Model or program |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharon AI | NASDAQ:SHAZ | Hosted in NEXTDC Melbourne and Sydney; 212MW secured group-wide, company figure | GPU cloud hosted in NEXTDC facilities |
| Firmus | Private; ASX listing due 23 October 2026 | Project Southgate across three Tasmanian sites: Launceston 90MW consented, Bell Bay 288MW approved, Wesley Vale ~52MW lodged; ~1.6GW national plan by 2028 | Own immersion-cooled AI factories |
| IREN | NASDAQ:IREN | Planned 800MW campus at Bundey, SA; operating data centres in the US and Canada | Own North American data centres; Microsoft AI cloud |
Latest coverage
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Firmus?
Firmus is an Australian AI infrastructure company that builds and runs AI factories, data centres designed to run large clusters of NVIDIA GPUs, and rents that capacity to technology companies. It was founded in 2019, has two sites operating, in Melbourne and Singapore, and five more in development across the Asia-Pacific. It is due to list on the ASX on 23 October 2026.
When is the Firmus IPO?
Firmus is due to list on the ASX on 23 October 2026, according to the IPO term sheet reported by Reuters on 1 October 2026. It has priced its shares at A$11.00 to raise A$7.1 billion, about US$4.94 billion, with an over-allotment option to sell up to US$500 million more. The bookbuild for large investors runs from 6 to 9 October. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Morgans are the lead managers, according to the AFR.
What is Firmus valued at?
Firmus's last private round, a US$2 billion raise that closed on 7 August 2026, valued the company above US$10.5 billion, by its own account. That followed US$5.5 billion in April 2026, about A$6 billion in November 2025 and A$1.85 billion in September 2025. For the float, the AFR and The Australian reported a valuation near A$50 billion on 14 September 2026. Research from Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, two of the banks managing the float, puts Firmus's enterprise value, which includes debt, at US$65 billion to US$90 billion and US$58 billion to US$70.4 billion respectively, the AFR reported on 24 September 2026. At the A$11 offer price, Firmus's equity is valued at US$30.6 billion (about A$44 billion at Reuters' exchange rate), according to the term sheet reported by Reuters on 1 October 2026. Reuters also reported that analysts at the banks on the deal estimate about US$30 billion of debt, which puts the value of the whole business near US$60 billion.
Who owns Firmus?
Firmus is privately owned ahead of its ASX listing. It was founded by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee, and Curtis and Rosenfield are co-chief executives. Its equity investors include Coatue, NVIDIA, Blackstone funds, Jane Street, Ellerston Capital, Regal Partners and Wilson Asset Management. The AFR's Street Talk column reported on 14 September 2026 that the founders and backers including Ellerston Capital, Regal Partners and Wilson Asset Management will keep their shares out of the float's offer book.
What does Firmus expect to earn?
Firmus estimates its data centres, once developed, will earn a combined US$5 billion a year within five years, according to a person cited by Reuters on 24 September 2026. A draft prospectus forecasts an after-tax loss of US$77 million, on a pro forma basis, for the six months to 31 December 2026, according to two people familiar with it, with the money raised in the float funding further capital spending. Firmus declined to comment to Reuters.
Where is Project Southgate?
Project Southgate is Firmus's flagship Australian project in Tasmania. It is three separate sites: St Leonards at Launceston, consented for 90MW; Bell Bay at Long Reach, approved for 288MW; and Wesley Vale, where a development application has been lodged for about 52MW at full build.
How does Firmus power its Australian campuses?
Through a 12-year agreement with Gunvor Group for 600MW of firm electricity, tied to about 1.2GW of new renewable generation and about 1.5GWh of new battery storage.
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