Firmus lands $500m equity raise to expand AI factory rollout
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The news: Data centre startup Firmus has received commitments for a further $500 million equity raise to accelerate the national rollout of Project Southgate, its flagship AI infrastructure initiative.
The numbers: Firmus said the new capital will help it reach its 1.6 gigawatt target by 2028.
The company, which was founded in Australia and now headquartered in Singapore, closed a $330 million equity raise in September. Last month it announced a strategic alliance with US megacap Nvidia and Canberra-based developer CDC to roll out $73.3 billion worth of AI data centres across the country by 2028.
Its latest round has been priced at a post-money valuation of around $6 billion.
The context: Firmus said the proceeds of the raise will enable further site development, infrastructure deployment, and energy partnerships across selected locations, including Tasmania, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Perth.
Firmus' Project Southgate initiative is a national-scale roadmap of AI factory deployments, anchored by a flagship green AI factory campus in Tasmania, with additional deployments rolling out across mainland Australia.
The company's AI factories are designed to meet the needs of energy intensive AI computing workloads.
What they said: “This raise allows us to deliver on the next phase of Project Southgate — expanding beyond Tasmania into four major mainland regions,” said Firmus co-CEO Oliver Curtis.
“We’re manufacturing a new class of AI infrastructure, on Australian soil, that is purpose-built for scale, performance, and sustainability. This means high value local jobs and a critical piece of sovereign capability for Australia.”
Co-CEO Tim Rosenfeld commented: “We’ve spent years developing a vertically integrated AI factory platform that can scale more efficiently than traditional approaches. With demand for AI infrastructure accelerating, this funding ensures we can meet it quickly, cost-effectively, and in line with Australia’s renewable energy future.”
The source: Firmus media release
