Firmus Technologies Secures A$500 Million to Accelerate Australia’s AI Data-Centre Ambitions
Nvidia-backed Firmus raises equity at roughly A$6 billion valuation for Project Southgate rollout across Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Australia’s AI infrastructure ecosystem has received a robust injection of capital with Firmus Technologies announcing a further A$500 million equity raise, taking its post-money valuation to approximately A$6 billion.
The fresh funds will help accelerate its flagship initiative, Project Southgate, in partnership with NVIDIA Corporation and CDC Data Centres, and underpin national rollout of what the company calls its “AI factories” across Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Firmus says the raise will fund site development, infrastructure deployment and energy-partnerships to deliver up to 1.6 gigawatts of AI-compute capacity by 2028. The funds come on the back of a previous A$330 million raise in September and demonstrate investor confidence in Australia’s potential as a major node of the global AI-data-centre build-out.
Co-CEO Oliver Curtis described the initiative as “manufacturing a new class of AI infrastructure, on Australian soil, that is purpose-built for scale, performance and sustainability”.
Co-CEO Tim Rosenfeld added that the vertically-integrated AI-factory platform had been developed over years and now allows Firmus to meet an accelerating demand for inference and training compute aligned with Australia’s renewable-energy ambitions.
Project Southgate is anchored in Tasmania’s Green AI Factory Zone with additional campuses on the mainland.
Early plans envisage construction at Launceston and rollout across other states, creating high-value jobs and contributing to Australia’s sovereign capability in advanced-compute infrastructure.
The company emphasises efficiency gains and reduced environmental footprint compared to traditional data centres.
Global demand for AI compute continues to surge, with underlying infrastructure considered a key bottleneck.
Australia, with its renewable-energy assets and stable regulatory environment, is increasingly viewed as a competitive destination for large-scale AI deployment.
Firmus’s raise and partner backing underscore that strategic logic and highlight a shift toward locally-anchored compute ecosystems.
While local energy and grid-connection issues remain considerations for such high-density projects, the capital-raise milestone positions Firmus as a prominent contender in Australia’s nascent AI-infrastructure race and signals growing momentum for data-centre investment in the region.
The fresh funds will help accelerate its flagship initiative, Project Southgate, in partnership with NVIDIA Corporation and CDC Data Centres, and underpin national rollout of what the company calls its “AI factories” across Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Firmus says the raise will fund site development, infrastructure deployment and energy-partnerships to deliver up to 1.6 gigawatts of AI-compute capacity by 2028. The funds come on the back of a previous A$330 million raise in September and demonstrate investor confidence in Australia’s potential as a major node of the global AI-data-centre build-out.
Co-CEO Oliver Curtis described the initiative as “manufacturing a new class of AI infrastructure, on Australian soil, that is purpose-built for scale, performance and sustainability”.
Co-CEO Tim Rosenfeld added that the vertically-integrated AI-factory platform had been developed over years and now allows Firmus to meet an accelerating demand for inference and training compute aligned with Australia’s renewable-energy ambitions.
Project Southgate is anchored in Tasmania’s Green AI Factory Zone with additional campuses on the mainland.
Early plans envisage construction at Launceston and rollout across other states, creating high-value jobs and contributing to Australia’s sovereign capability in advanced-compute infrastructure.
The company emphasises efficiency gains and reduced environmental footprint compared to traditional data centres.
Global demand for AI compute continues to surge, with underlying infrastructure considered a key bottleneck.
Australia, with its renewable-energy assets and stable regulatory environment, is increasingly viewed as a competitive destination for large-scale AI deployment.
Firmus’s raise and partner backing underscore that strategic logic and highlight a shift toward locally-anchored compute ecosystems.
While local energy and grid-connection issues remain considerations for such high-density projects, the capital-raise milestone positions Firmus as a prominent contender in Australia’s nascent AI-infrastructure race and signals growing momentum for data-centre investment in the region.
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