Nvidia-Backed Firmus Scraps Major Australian Stock Market Listing
Australian artificial intelligence (AI) data centre company Firmus has withdrawn plans for a major stock market listing, abandoning an initial public offering (IPO) that aimed to value the company at more than $30 billion.
The company said it had decided because of “recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions”, adding that proceeding with the listing would not be in the best interests of the business or its shareholders.
The withdrawal follows investors’ concerns about Firmus’s valuation. One investment firm told the BBC it had decided against participating in the IPO because it considered the proposed valuation too high.
Firmus had planned a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that would have ranked among the largest in the country’s history. However, the offering failed to attract sufficient investor interest, according to Australian media reports.
The company said it would now seek funding from private investors while considering alternative options in both public and private markets.
“Firmus will now pursue capital from the private markets and consider alternative public and private market options. We will provide additional information to shareholders as those options progress,” the company said.
The decision reflects the challenges companies face when seeking public investment amid market uncertainty and scrutiny of valuations in the AI sector.
Firmus develops and operates liquid-cooled data centres, which it describes as “AI factories”. These facilities are designed to support the computing demands of artificial intelligence workloads.
The company has operations in Australia, Singapore and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, and works with major technology companies, including OpenAI and Meta.
Its backers include Nvidia, Blackstone and Jane Street. Despite this high-profile support, the proposed listing faced questions about its valuation and investor appetite.
Firmus plans to pursue private-market funding and assess other financing options as it reviews its next steps.
The company’s decision to abandon the IPO does not mean it has ruled out a future public listing. However, any renewed attempt will depend on its funding strategy, market conditions and the terms investors are willing to accept.
For now, Firmus will focus on securing capital outside the public markets as it continues developing its AI data centre business.