Nvidia-backed Firmus cancels AU$30B IPO plan amid volatility

Firmus said it pulled the Australian IPO because of recent market volatility and current market conditions, and that the terms on offer would not have reflected the strength of its business or its growth outlook. Going ahead, the board decided, would not serve the company or its shareholders.

The investors who walked away told a blunter story. The float aimed to raise about $5 billion at a price of A$11 a share. That would have made it one of the largest share sales in Australian history. Signs of stress showed up soon after the books opened to big institutions, and the deal was withdrawn after about 48 hours of bookbuilding.

UniSuper, one of Australia’s largest pension funds, was among those that stayed out. Its chief investment officer, John Pearce, said Firmus had a compelling story but not a compelling valuation, and that so much would have to go right to justify the price. He also worried the company would need to borrow even more to fund its growth. Other investors were concerned that existing shareholders might sell shares soon after the debut.

Firmus builds and runs liquid-cooled data centers it calls AI factories, packed with Nvidia chips and rented out for heavy AI work. Its clients include OpenAI and Meta, and its backers include Nvidia, Blackstone and Jane Street.

The company has an unusual origin story. It started in 2019 as a Bitcoin mining business in Australia, founded by Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield. Today it has data centers in Melbourne and Singapore, with five more under development across the Asia-Pacific region.

The numbers show why some investors hesitated:

• Revenue: about $51 million in its 2026 financial year.
• Capacity: a pipeline of 912 megawatts, of which only 46 megawatts has actually been built.
• Recent funding: $505 million in April in a round led by Coatue Management, followed by $2 billion pledged by a group including Nvidia and Blackstone.
• Valuation jump: it was reportedly valued at $10.5 billion in a private round just two months before the IPO, so the float would have roughly tripled that.

One analyst, Phillip Wool of Rayliant Investment Research, summed up the worry by calling the deal more like a bet on a dream, since buyers would be backing an early-stage company likely to borrow heavily.

For everyday investors, the lesson is that even a company with Nvidia, OpenAI and Meta on its resume can’t name any price it likes. Some fund managers saw the withdrawal as a good result, because it spared small investors from buying shares that might have slumped after listing.

It also fits a wider mood. Investors and analysts have grown uneasy about the vast sums going into AI while long-term returns remain unclear. On the day the news broke, Nvidia and Oracle shares fell in US trading after reports that OpenAI’s revenue was lower than previously thought. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had already said in September that OpenAI would not aim to list this year.

Australia has its own stake. The country has become a magnet for data center investment thanks to plentiful clean energy, natural gas and land, and it already has more than 160 data centers. Altman has said it could lead the industry if it wanted to. Some Australians have pushed back over the environmental impact and noise. Pearce called the outcome disappointing, saying the exchange needs new stories and this could have been one if correctly priced.

Firmus says it will now seek money from private markets and consider other public and private options, and will update shareholders as those plans progress. It is talking with current investors about a private round of $2 billion to $3 billion, possibly mixing equity and debt. Existing backers had already planned to put in roughly half of the IPO money, which could speed things up. Over the longer term, the company is also weighing a US listing.

The aftermath kept rolling through October. A later report said Nvidia was moving to back Firmus after IPO investors balked. Morgans Financial, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America had been lined up to run the sale.

The next thing to watch is the size and terms of any private deal, which will show what professional investors really think Firmus is worth.