Nvidia-backed Firmus raises $2B, doubling valuation to $10.5B

Firmus, the Australian AI data-centre builder, has raised $2bn in fully subscribed strategic equity at a valuation of more than $10.5bn. Coatue and Nvidia returned as follow-on investors, joined by new money from Blackstone's Tactical Opportunities arm and trading firm Jane Street.

The valuation is roughly double where Firmus stood four months ago, a pace that captures how fast capital is chasing AI capacity. The company has now raised more than $3bn in new equity over the past 12 months.

Firmus builds what it calls AI factories, using Nvidia's reference architecture, its own HyperCube platform, and grid-aware software. The new capital will accelerate its Project Southgate rollout across Australia and fund expansion into the wider Asia-Pacific region.

The push includes a new development in Indonesia, part of a bet that Asia-Pacific becomes a serious AI hub rather than a bystander to the US-and-China build-out.

This spring, Firmus raised $505m and lined up a Blackstone debt facility while preparing a planned ASX listing. Rounds like this one build the scale a successful float would require.

Doubling a valuation in four months assumes AI demand keeps climbing, and any slowdown would hit capital-intensive players hardest. Firmus is also geographically concentrated in a region still proving itself as an AI destination.

The appetite is less unique to Firmus than a symptom of a wider land grab for the physical layer of AI. A fully subscribed $2bn round at a doubled valuation says investors see the company as a real contender — and puts Australia on the AI-infrastructure map.