Firmus pulls its A$44 billion ASX float: Nvidia-backed AI-factory builder walks away
Firmus Technologies has withdrawn its application to list on the ASX, killing what would have been Australia's biggest share-market debut since Telstra. Institutional investors balked at the A$44 billion price tag — 44 times what the Nvidia-backed data centre builder was worth a year ago.
Firmus Technologies has withdrawn its application to list on the ASX, killing what would have been Australia's biggest share-market debut since Telstra's 1997 privatisation. The Nvidia-backed data centre builder says it will chase private capital instead, after institutional investors balked at the A$44 billion price tag.
The withdrawal, announced on Friday, ends a float priced at A$11 a share that was aiming for a valuation of roughly A$44 billion, with trading pencilled in for October 23. Bloomberg reported on October 8 that Firmus had already shut its bookbuilding process as investor support faltered. Rather than reprice or delay, the company closed the books and walked. The board said the terms on which the offer could proceed “would not appropriately reflect the strength of the company's business and long-term growth outlook” — and that pushing ahead was not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. CNBC reported the company was also citing market volatility.
Priced to perfection
The sticking point was the price. Firmus was valued at roughly A$1 billion a year ago; the float asked the market to believe it was now worth 44 times that. UniSuper, the A$175 billion Australian super fund, declined to take part, with chief investment officer John Pearce calling the offer “priced to perfection.” “We think that Firmus indeed has a compelling story. It just doesn't have a compelling valuation,” Pearce said. “So much has to go right to justify the valuation.”
The sceptics had ammunition. Firmus has only two operational data centres, in Melbourne and Singapore, and plans to issue about US$30 billion in debt to build many more, which it would then lease back to tech-giant tenants including Meta and OpenAI.
From bitcoin miner to AI factory
Firmus began in 2019 as a bitcoin miner before rebranding its data centres as “AI factories” — the pitch that attracted Nvidia's backing and made the float this year's most-watched AI infrastructure story on the ASX. AI Frontier Post covered the float's earlier terms on October 5, when insiders were reported to be taking roughly half of the offering at A$11 a share.
Pressure had been building for days. Construction on one planned facility in Tasmania has drawn pushback from local residents, who told AAP they learned of the plans only after work started. Earlier this week, a scheduled Firmus appearance at a government AI hearing was cancelled at the eleventh hour.
Why it matters
The failed float is a stress test for the AI infrastructure trade. Investors still believe in the demand — Meta and OpenAI are reported tenants on Firmus's books — but the public-market price discovery forced a verdict the company's backers didn't want. Firmus chose to preserve its valuation privately rather than defend A$11 a share in public, and will now seek capital from private markets while considering other public and private options.
The broader signal, as analysts told Australian press this week, is that the AI trade still has legs — but investors are picking their entry points far more carefully. Australia's biggest IPO in a generation will have to wait, or arrive by a different route.