SYDNEY — Firmus Technologies, an Nvidia-backed builder of artificial intelligence data centers, has scrapped plans for what was set to be Australia’s biggest stock market listing in decades, citing “recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions,” BBC News and The Guardian reported.
“Firmus will now pursue capital from the private markets and consider alternative public and private market options,” the company said Friday. Its bankers had aimed to raise A$7 billion at A$11 a share ahead of a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange on Oct. 23, Guardian Australia reported, with an anticipated valuation of A$44 billion — more than US$30 billion, according to the BBC. It would have been the largest ASX debut since Telstra in 1997.
Firmus builds liquid-cooled data centers it calls “AI factories” for clients including OpenAI and Meta, and is backed by Nvidia, Blackstone and Jane Street. But investors balked at its valuation for a startup with just two small operating sites, The Guardian said. “We think that Firmus indeed has a compelling story. It just doesn’t have a compelling valuation,” John Pearce, chief investment officer of the pension fund UniSuper, which declined to take part, told the BBC.
The retreat has rattled other parts of the market: shares in Firmus investor Maas Group plunged more than 20 percent on Thursday, and data center operator CDC this week ended a deal with Firmus known as Project Southgate. The decision comes as investors question the hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into AI. “It’s more like a bet on a dream,” said Phillip Wool of Rayliant Investment Research.
Sources: BBC News, The Guardian
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