Firmus Technologies, the Nvidia-backed AI data-centre operator, opened the institutional bookbuild for its landmark A$7.1 billion (about $5 billion) initial public offering on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 — seeking a A$43.7 billion valuation in what would be Australia's biggest stock market listing since Telstra's 1997 debut.
The IPO Terms
Firmus has priced its shares at A$11.00 each, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters, giving the company an equity valuation of about A$43.7 billion (roughly $30.6 billion). With an estimated $30 billion of debt, the enterprise value sits near $60 billion. A greenshoe over-allotment option of up to an extra $500 million could take the total raise to about $5.5 billion.
The institutional bookbuild runs from Tuesday, October 6 through Thursday, October 8, with the prospectus lodgement now expected on October 12. Retail investors will be able to bid from October 12 to 19, and the shares are due to start trading on the Australian Securities Exchange on October 23. Demand is already strong: indicative investor orders had exceeded the deal size before the book opened, and roughly half of the offering will be allocated to selected existing strategic and financial investors, Reuters reported on October 5.
The float would be the second-largest IPO in Australian history, trailing only Telstra's $10 billion listing in 1997, and the fourth-largest globally this year, according to Dealogic data — behind SpaceX, CXMT Corp and Cerebras Systems.
The Company Behind the $5 Billion Bet
Firmus was founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee, starting out in Bitcoin-mining infrastructure before pivoting fully to AI data centres. The company builds and operates liquid-cooled data centres on Nvidia reference architectures — AI "factories" powered mainly by Nvidia GPUs. It currently runs two operational data centres in Australia and Singapore, with five more under development across Asia-Pacific.
Its customer roster does much of the sales pitch's heavy lifting: Nvidia, Meta and OpenAI are all named as customers. OpenAI is the anchor tenant for two planned Malaysian AI factories under a multi-year deal signed in September 2026, while Meta is consuming Nvidia GB300 NVL72 capacity at Firmus's Melbourne operation. Contracted capacity has passed 900 megawatts. Backers include Nvidia (about 7.2% ownership), Coatue (about 8.4%), Blackstone (about 6.7%) and Jane Street. An August 2026 strategic equity round valued the company at roughly $10.5 billion post-money.
The Risks Investors Must Weigh
The draft prospectus is not shy about the downside. Firmus expects a $77 million after-tax loss for the first half of its 2027 financial year, and describes itself as historically loss-making. The company carries roughly $30 billion in debt, including a $10 billion facility led by Blackstone secured in February 2026. Founders' shares are locked up under escrow arrangements, with only 10% released after one year.
There is also local friction: community opposition to data centres is building in Australia over power and water consumption, and Firmus has drawn pushback on its planned Australian sites. Read the prospectus as a bet on contracted demand, not sentiment — Firmus passed 900 MW of contracted capacity this month on the back of the OpenAI deal, giving underwriters the revenue visibility that pure AI-infrastructure stories have struggled to show.
Takeaway: The Firmus IPO will be the market's clearest test yet of how much public investors will pay for the AI infrastructure boom. If the $5 billion book builds cleanly, expect a queue of data-centre operators behind it; if it stumbles, the whole AI-buildout trade gets a reality check.
Watch: Search YouTube for the latest video coverage of the Firmus IPO and ASX listing (no single official video yet — this searches current coverage).
Reel music: Kevin MacLeod - Long Road Ahead B (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Sources: Reuters (Oct 1), Reuters (Oct 5), Reuters (Sept 21).