Firmus Pulls Its A$7.1 Billion ASX Float With 46 Megawatts Running and 865 in the Pipeline

Firmus Technologies, the Nvidia-backed AI data centre operator, withdrew its application to list on the Australian Securities Exchange on Oct. 9, 2026, after its lead managers found too little institutional demand for a A$7.1 billion offer at A$11 a share ²³. The offer valued the company at about A$43.7 billion. Firmus runs 46 megawatts of compute today and lists 865 more in its pipeline, so about 5 percent of the 911 megawatts it counts is energized.

Firmus's Oct. 9 withdrawal pulls capital down 0.4 points

The move

The data5 rows · sources

Measure	Value
Reading before this day	2.9
This piece's move	−0.4 (Capital, confirmed)
Band for confirmed evidence	0.8 to 1.5
Reading after the day (with 2 other pieces that day)	2.1
Distance to 100	97.9

What exactly did Firmus withdraw on Oct. 9?

Firmus pulled the offer on a Friday, within days of opening it to institutions, and its board stated the reason in a statement that day ¹³. Reports of price cuts had circulated first: ABC News cited talk of lowering the share price from A$11 to A$8.25, and SmartCompany noted a move to A$9 that could have erased about A$8 billion of market value ².

Market conditions anchored the explanation. Firmus's board said the offer terms "would not appropriately reflect the strength of the Company's business and long-term growth outlook" ³. In a letter to shareholders, co-founders Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield wrote that "The company will now pursue capital from private markets and consider alternative international public market options" ¹.

Telstra's 1997 listing is the only larger Australian float, according to ABC News ². Banking fees on the deal were estimated at about A$215 million, and 58 percent of the shares were due to trade on listing ³. Reuters added that escrow terms would have let more than half the stock be sold by existing investors from day one ¹.

How much of the buildout runs today?

Firmus operates two data centres, in Melbourne and Singapore, and has five more under development that target service over the next 24 months ²⁴. The headline plan is a US$51 billion build of five AI data centres in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, with customers reported to include Meta and OpenAI ³. Nvidia holds a 7.2 percent stake.

Megawatts announced, energized and planned are three fields on this ledger, and Firmus shows the gap in one sentence. Forty-six megawatts are running. Another 865 sit in a pipeline that depends on the capital that the float was meant to raise ³.

A partner has also left. CDC and Firmus planned to develop 1.6 gigawatts of AI factories together, and the plan has been abandoned ¹³. CDC's chief strategy officer Jack Dan said Firmus had been a partner when its focus "was a lot more on Australia and creating sovereign AI capability" ². The sentence dates a change: the partnership began when Firmus focused on Australia, and the current plan spans Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

Firmus runs 46 megawatts and lists 865 more in its pipeline

Compared

The data2 rows · sources

Unit: megawatts

Item	Value	Source
Running compute today	46	[3]
Pipeline in the pipeline	865	[3]

Why did investors balk at the price?

Three numbers stood in the way. The valuation of A$43.7 billion was nearly triple the A$15 billion set in a private round two months earlier, when Firmus raised A$2.85 billion ³⁴. Analysts for the joint lead managers put debt at about $30 billion, which implied an enterprise value of $60 billion, according to Reuters ¹. ABC News reports the debt would stand at about US$30 billion once the sites are built, roughly six times the US$5 billion of operating earnings Firmus forecasts for 2028 ².

Joseph Koh, a portfolio manager at Blackwattle Investment Partners, summed up the pricing problem to Reuters. "They were asking for a very big price tag for what would likely be expected to happen in the future," Koh said ¹. The verb "asking" puts the initiative with Firmus, and "expected to happen" marks the revenue as a forecast. A buyer of the shares was being asked to pay today for sites still under construction.

Jun Bei Liu, co-founder of the fund manager Ten Cap, widened the frame. "I think the Firmus situation represents an important reality check for the AI investment boom," Liu told Reuters ¹. She also named company-specific causes: the speed of the valuation increase, the capital requirements and the execution risk in delivering the expansion.

The offer valued Firmus at A$43.7 billion, against A$15 billion in August

Compared

The data2 rows · sources

Unit: A$ billion

Item	Value	Source
August private round after raising A$2.85 billion	15	[3]
ASX offer at A$11 a share	43.7	[3]

Is a debt-funded neocloud a sound business or a stretched one?

Two voices give the case in their own words. Firmus argues from its business. John Pearce of UniSuper argues from the price.

Firmus's board holds that the market undervalued the company. It said that proceeding on the offered terms was "not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders" and that the terms "would not appropriately reflect the strength of the Company's business and long-term growth outlook" ³. Read as strategy, the statement treats the shortfall as a pricing disagreement. It leaves the business plan intact and sends the company to private investors who have already paid A$15 billion.

John Pearce, chief investment officer of UniSuper, accepted the story and rejected the number. "We think that Firmus indeed has a compelling story. It just doesn't have a compelling valuation," Pearce told ABC News ². He added that "At the current valuation, it's priced to perfection. So much has to go right to justify the valuation". Pearce also said, "The ASX needs new stories and this could have been one if it was correctly priced". The conditional "could have been" shows a buyer who wanted the deal and held out on terms.

Lochlan Holloway, a senior market strategist at Morningstar, described the financing model plainly. "The model is to borrow against customer contracts to buy chips, then use the rent to repay the loans," Holloway said ². He offered a defence and a warning in consecutive sentences: "Borrowed money alone does not make a bubble, and plenty of infrastructure is sensibly funded with debt".

Each side needs something specific to be true. Firmus is right if its leases with Meta and OpenAI service US$30 billion of debt through 2028. Pearce is right if the business needs to return to markets for more debt and more equity, a worry he put in his own words to ABC News ².

Firmus's board defends its value; John Pearce says the price is too high

Both sides

The data2 rows · sources

Side	Who	Claim	Source
For	Firmus	The offer terms would not appropriately reflect the strength of the business and its long-term growth outlook.	[3]
Against	John Pearce	At the current valuation Firmus is priced to perfection, and so much has to go right to justify it.	[2]

Why does the step stop at 0.4?

The evidence is a corporate decision recorded by the company itself, which places it in the confirmed band of 0.8 to 1.5 points. Under the method, a piece may step below its band when it states the reason, and four reasons apply ¹³.

First, the capital component carries a weight of 0.05, and Firmus is one regional operator with 46 megawatts running. Second, Firmus has a private route: it raised A$2.85 billion two months ago and says it will pursue private capital ¹³. Third, the board cites market volatility, and Reuters records that US-listed chipmakers fell 3.4 percent on Oct. 8 after rising over 80 percent this year, so some of the repricing belongs to the day. Fourth, a withdrawn offer records a price investors declined, while the sites themselves remain under development.

Before this piece the reading stood at 4.2; capital falls from 0.5 to 0.1 and the day's reading closes at 3.8.

What Firmus's withdrawal shows, and what stays open

The record

The data8 rows · sources

Column	Item	Source
On the record	Firmus withdrew its A$7.1 billion offer on Oct. 9	[2] [3]
On the record	Valuation was A$43.7 billion, near triple the August round	[3] [4]
On the record	US$30 billion of debt is expected, six times 2028 earnings	[2]
On the record	CDC's 1.6 gigawatt joint plan has been abandoned	[1] [3]
Claimed or open	The board cites market volatility and a pricing gap	[3]
Claimed or open	Firmus says it will pursue private capital	[1]
Claimed or open	Meta and OpenAI are reported lessees	[4]
Claimed or open	Five sites target service within 24 months	[2]

By the numbers

• A$7.1 billion: the size of the withdrawn offer, priced at A$11 a share ²³.
• Forty-six megawatts of compute are running, with 865 megawatts in the pipeline ³.
• About A$43.7 billion was the valuation the offer implied, against A$15 billion in a private round two months earlier ³.
• US$30 billion of debt is expected once the sites are built, about six times the US$5 billion of 2028 operating earnings Firmus forecasts ².
• Nvidia's stake in Firmus stands at 7.2 percent ².
• Abandoned: CDC's joint plan with Firmus for 1.6 gigawatts of AI factories ¹³.
• Banking fees on the float were estimated at about A$215 million ³.

What to watch

Watch the terms of Firmus's next raise, because a private round priced near the earlier A$15 billion would suggest the public price was the outlier, while a round near the A$43.7 billion would reverse the step. A listing delayed beyond Nov. 30 would trigger arrangements that give larger equity to Nvidia, Blackstone and Coatue and dilute earlier holders, including the founders ³. Megawatts energized at Firmus sites, dated and reported by the company, would move the compute and energy components. A second neocloud float priced successfully on a public exchange would show that investors object to Firmus's price and leave the model open.