Nvidia-backed Firmus pulls US$5bn Australian IPO as investors balk at valuation
Firmus, an Australian builder of liquid-cooled AI data centres backed by Nvidia, withdrew its planned initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange on 9 October 2026, according to reports from HeyGoTrade and NewsBytes. The deal had been structured to raise about A$5.5bn, or roughly US$5bn, at A$11 a share, implying an equity value in the region of US$30bn, Crypto Briefing reported. Shares had been expected to begin trading in the second half of October.
The company said the offer terms did not correctly reflect the strength of its business and long-term growth outlook, and that proceeding was not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders, according to HeyGoTrade. In a separate statement cited by Stocktwits, Firmus pointed to recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions. It said it would pursue private capital and keep other public and private options under review.
Demand appears to have thinned in the final days of the book-build. HeyGoTrade reported that investors pulled orders after a disclosure of escrow terms that would have allowed existing shareholders to sell more than half of their stock as soon as the shares listed. UniSuper, one of Australia's largest pension funds, opted out; its chief investment officer, John Pearce, said the company had a compelling story but not a compelling valuation, according to NewsBytes.
The valuation sought was a sharp step up from private rounds earlier in the year. Crypto Briefing reported that Firmus raised US$505m at a US$5.5bn post-money valuation in April 2026 and a further US$2bn at more than US$10.5bn in August. A listing at around US$30bn would therefore have roughly tripled the company's value in two months, and would have ranked it among Australia's largest floats since Telstra in 1997.
Firmus, founded in 2019, operates two leased data centres in Melbourne and Singapore and plans five more across Asia-Pacific, with a flagship development known as Project Southgate in Australia, according to HeyGoTrade and Crypto Briefing. Its backers include Blackstone, Coatue Management and Jane Street alongside Nvidia, and it counts Nvidia, Meta Platforms and OpenAI among reported customers. Reuters, cited by HeyGoTrade, said the draft prospectus projected a pro forma loss of US$77m for the first half of the fiscal year to June 2027, against a longer-term aim of US$5bn in annual earnings within five years.
The withdrawal was read by some Australian fund managers as a test of appetite for AI infrastructure. Portfolio manager Jun Bei Liu called it an important reality check for the AI investment boom, HeyGoTrade reported, while investor Joseph Koh said the company was asking a very big price tag for expected future results. The episode coincided with a 5.1 per cent weekly fall in the SOXX semiconductor index, according to Stocktwits.
It also sits against robust results from the sector's largest suppliers. TSMC reported third-quarter revenue of US$46.7bn on 15 October and ASML said a day earlier that its planned supply would not fully meet demand through 2028, according to their respective filings. The contrast suggests investors are differentiating between established chipmakers with current earnings and newer operators whose returns depend on multi-year build-outs funded in part by debt.
Firmus has said it will update shareholders as its funding options develop. The size and pricing of any private round, progress on Project Southgate and the pace of GPU deployment are the next markers. Separately, Stocktwits reported that Lambda, another Nvidia-backed AI cloud company, is seeking up to US$4bn in what could be its final private round before a listing, a transaction that will offer a further read on private-market pricing for AI infrastructure.
