Australian artificial intelligence infrastructure company Firmus said Friday it has raised $2 billion in equity funding, nearly doubling its valuation to more than $10.5 billion as investors continue to pour capital into the physical backbone of the global AI boom.
The latest round included follow-on investments from Nvidia Corp. and tech investor Coatue Management, along with new capital from funds managed by Blackstone Inc. and trading firm Jane Street. Firmus was valued at roughly $5.5 billion after its previous funding round in April.
The Sydney-based company said the proceeds will accelerate the next phase of Project Southgate, its ambitious plan to develop large-scale AI training and inference data centers across Australia.
The money will also support expansion into other Asia-Pacific markets, including a recently announced project in Indonesia aimed at serving AI-native customers.“This investment allows us to move on multiple fronts at once,” Firmus Co-CEO Oliver Curtis said in a statement.
“We’re scaling across Australia while fast-tracking our capacity to expand into the wider Asia-Pacific region, including the early steps behind our recently announced Indonesia development.”Firmus builds its facilities around Nvidia’s DSX AI Factory Reference Architecture.
The company uses its own HyperCube platform and grid-aware software that emphasizes energy efficiency and renewable power, a key selling point in an industry known for heavy electricity demand.Founded in 2019, Firmus initially focused on cryptocurrency mining and high-performance computing, specializing in immersion cooling technology.
It has since pivoted to become a pure-play builder of AI factories. The company currently operates a smaller facility in Tasmania and is developing larger campuses, including a 90-megawatt data center in Launceston and plans for a significantly bigger site on the island.
The $2 billion raise brings Firmus’ total equity funding over the past 12 months to more than $3 billion. That rapid capital accumulation reflects the intense global competition for AI compute capacity as tech giants and startups race to train and run ever-larger models.
Earlier this year, Firmus also secured a substantial debt facility tied to its Australian expansion plans and has previously discussed a potential listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.Investors appear undeterred by broader market questions about the sustainability of heavy AI spending.
The participation of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, alongside major Wall Street firms underscores continued appetite for companies that can deliver reliable, scalable infrastructure rather than just software or models.Curtis said the new capital positions Firmus to move faster on multiple projects simultaneously.
The company has already struck agreements with Nvidia to purchase infrastructure and offer Nvidia-powered cloud services.While many AI infrastructure deals have centered on the United States and Europe, Firmus is betting that Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region can become important hubs, leveraging relatively stable power grids, renewable energy potential and growing regional demand for sovereign AI capacity.
The funding announcement comes amid a wave of large capital raises for data-center and chip-related companies worldwide. Analysts note that physical infrastructure has become one of the most capital-intensive and strategically important segments of the AI supply chain.
Firmus did not disclose detailed timelines for individual projects or exact capacity targets beyond the general acceleration of Project Southgate.
The company said it will continue focusing on energy-efficient designs as it scales.With the latest valuation jump, Firmus joins a small group of AI infrastructure specialists that have seen rapid growth in a short period, reflecting how quickly capital is flowing toward the companies that keep the AI boom running.
