Firmus sets October 6 launch for A$7 billion AI data-center IPO

Firmus Technologies, a liquid-cooling operator that named OpenAI as an anchor customer on September 8 and holds a supply agreement with chipmaker NVIDIA through 2034, is reaching for A$7 billion ($4.99 billion) in an Australian IPO. Reuters said on September 14 that a completed raise at that size would be the second-largest Australia-listed IPO on record by proceeds, behind the 1997 privatization of Telstra, the national telephone monopoly. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has put that sale at A$14 billion for a one-third stake. A term sheet reviewed by Reuters on Monday opens the institutional bookbuild on October 6 and does not price the offer.

That term sheet scheduled ASX trading for October 22, a date The Australian also reported from a term sheet sent to investors. Bloomberg, citing terms it saw the same day, said the company is targeting October 26, that the bookbuild runs October 6 and 7, and that the deal includes an overallotment option of as much as 10% of the base offering, extra shares underwriters can sell if demand exceeds the base. A retail offer is set to open October 12 and close October 19.

On September 8, Firmus said OpenAI will contract dedicated AI compute from two of its Malaysian sites, taking total contracted capacity above 900 MW across seven AI factories in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, two of them already operating. In June it announced the NVIDIA partnership, covering up to 170,000 accelerators at a 360 MW campus in Batam, Indonesia, built around Firmus's liquid-cooled HyperCube design.

The Australian, citing management projections, has reported a market capitalization above A$50 billion. In August, Firmus said it had raised US$2 billion of equity, taking its post-money valuation above US$10.5 billion, with NVIDIA, Coatue, Blackstone funds and Jane Street participating. The October 6 bookbuild is where institutions attach a public price to that contracted capacity.