Firmus reportedly pulls ASX listing as A$7 billion raise fails to draw demand even after price cut

Firmus, an Australian AI data center company, has withdrawn its listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), according to reports. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on October 9 that the float was pulled because of lacklustre investor demand (ABC). The headline of an article distributed by Euronext says NVIDIA-backed Firmus scrapped a $5 billion Australian IPO amid growing AI scrutiny (Euronext). In Australian dollars, that is a planned raise of about A$7 billion. Both accounts are media reports, and we have not yet verified primary sources such as Firmus's filings with the exchange.

The significance lies less in the delay itself than in how the company reached the decision to abandon the listing. According to the reports, Firmus cut its offer price and still could not gather enough demand. If buyers did not appear even at a lower price, the problem was not the fine print of the pricing. It means public markets would not pay a private-market valuation for AI infrastructure as an asset class.

What has been reported

The ABC's headline uses the words "lacklustre investor demand." The headline of the article distributed by Euronext cites "growing AI scrutiny" as the backdrop to the decision. The listing had reportedly been scheduled for October 22–23, which means the withdrawal came about two weeks beforehand.

We have not been able to confirm details such as the original offer price range and how far it was lowered, how many times oversubscribed the book was after the cut, or who the lead managers were. The same goes for the valuation the company sought at listing. Reported figures for deals like this often mix Australian and US dollars, and amounts raised with valuations. In past cases, reported figures have differed sharply from those in later formal filings. This article treats A$7 billion as the planned amount of the raise, not as a valuation.

A company built on vendor financing

Firmus is an AI data center company backed by NVIDIA and others. It buys GPUs, secures power and cooling, and rents out computing capacity. Companies of this kind have grown through vendor financing: they take investment from GPU sellers and use that money or credit to buy the same sellers' GPUs. From the seller's side, it amounts to creating its own demand in advance.

In private markets, this cycle tends to keep turning. Component sellers sit among the investors, and investors from earlier rounds support the valuation of the next round. A listing is the first time buyers outside this circle are asked to set a price. Institutional investors such as Australian pension funds and long-term asset managers price a company not on its relationship with NVIDIA, but on how fast its GPUs depreciate, how much time is left on its contracts, how heavy its debt is, and how diversified its customers are. If the reports are accurate, those outside buyers did not step forward even at the reduced offer price.

There have been few cases in which public markets rejected an AI infrastructure valuation this clearly. Listings of GPU cloud companies have been told as stories of strong AI demand. The Firmus case points the other way: a price set in private markets will not necessarily hold in public markets.

The same week as reports on OpenAI's revenue

The withdrawal came the same week as reports about OpenAI's revenue. The Financial Times reported OpenAI's revenue at about $50 billion, and it is not yet clear whether OpenAI or its investors will push back. The figure bears on the assumptions behind OpenAI's fundraising, reportedly at a $1.4 trillion valuation, and on the debt of the companies that sell it computing capacity. That is why the share prices of companies such as Oracle, CoreWeave and Nebius, which have borrowed heavily against their contracts with OpenAI, are being watched closely.

Ultimately, the price of AI infrastructure rests on the revenue of the companies selling models. A data center company's valuation depends on whether the companies renting its GPUs can keep paying. In a week when market attention was fixed on OpenAI's revenue, Australia's public market did not let an AI data center listing through. The two events are two sides of the same question: how much can anyone afford to pay for AI computing capacity?

Still, it is too early to call one withdrawn listing a turning point for AI infrastructure as a whole. Australia's market is smaller than the US market, and there are few precedents for AI data center listings there. Factors specific to Firmus, such as customer concentration or the pace of construction, may also have played a part. Even so, it remains significant that a company with the strongest possible endorsement, NVIDIA's investment, reportedly could not attract buyers even after cutting its price.

What to watch

First, whether Firmus itself or its filings with the ASX confirm the reason for the withdrawal and the reduced offer price. Second, how the company funds itself after abandoning the listing. Will it keep raising money privately, take on more debt, or lean on existing investors such as NVIDIA for support? If the vendor-financing loop closes again outside public markets, that will be worth watching in its own right. Third, whether the episode affects the terms for other AI infrastructure companies raising money around the same time, such as Lambda and Etched. Anthropic's preparations for a listing are also continuing, and the price public markets put on AI will keep being tested by the same yardstick for some time.