{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-10-09T19:24:00+02:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-09-firmus-withdraws-asx-ipo/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-09-firmus-withdraws-asx-ipo/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"Adam Bicz","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-10-09-firmus-withdraws-asx-ipo","date":"2026-10-09","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Nvidia-backed AI data-centre builder Firmus pulls its A$7B ASX IPO, the biggest planned Australian float since Telstra","deck":null,"takeaway":"On Oct 9, 2026 Firmus Technologies, a Tasmania-based AI data-centre builder backed by Nvidia, withdrew its planned ASX listing, which would have raised about US$5B (A$7.1B) at a market value of about A$43.7B and been Australia's largest float since Telstra in 1997.","category":"business","category_label":"Business","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"ABC News: Data centre operator Firmus pulls blockbuster ASX float after lacklustre demand (Oct 9)","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-09/firmus-float-gets-pulled-following-lacklustre-investor-demand/107246230","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"abc.net.au"},{"n":2,"title":"ACS Information Age: Australian data centre company Firmus scraps ASX float","url":"https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/australian-data-centre-company-firmus-scraps-asx-float.html","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"ia.acs.org.au"},{"n":3,"title":"Reuters Breakingviews: Failed AI IPO puts fear before FOMO (Oct 9)","url":"https://www.breakingviews.com/columns/considered-view/failed-ai-ipo-puts-fear-before-fomo-2026-10-09/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"breakingviews.com"},{"n":4,"title":"CNBC: Nvidia-backed Aussie AI firm Firmus withdraws historic IPO, citing market volatility","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/09/nvidia-ai-firmus-ipo-.html","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"cnbc.com"}],"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-09","updated":"2026-10-09","orgs":["Firmus","Nvidia"],"title":"Nvidia-backed AI data-centre builder Firmus pulls its A$7B ASX IPO, the biggest planned Australian float since Telstra","summary":"On Oct 9, 2026 Firmus Technologies, a Tasmania-based AI data-centre builder backed by Nvidia, withdrew its planned ASX listing, which would have raised about US$5B (A$7.1B) at a market value of about A$43.7B and been Australia's largest float since Telstra in 1997. The institutional book had drawn weak demand, a day after OpenAI's lower-than-reported revenue figure hit AI stocks. Breakingviews: \"Fear of getting screwed has beaten fear of missing out.\"","key_facts":["Offer: about US$5B (A$7.1B) at A$11 a share, implying ~A$43.7B (~US$31B) market value; ASX trading had been set for Oct 23 (ACS Information Age, Breakingviews)","Valuation path: ~A$1.85B a year earlier and A$15B after a A$2.85B round two months earlier (ACS)","Underwriters: Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Morgans (ACS). Nvidia holds about 7.2% (ABC)","Before the withdrawal, ABC reported that advisers were weighing a cut in the price from A$11 to A$8.25 and a smaller deal","Firmus statement: 'Having considered recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions, the board determined that the terms on which the offer could proceed would not appropriately reflect the strength of the company's business'; it will pursue 'alternative public and private-market options'","Plans: ~US$51B build-out of five AI data centres in Tasmania and Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia); about 46 MW operating and 865 MW in the pipeline; customers include OpenAI and Meta (ACS)","Lost partner: CDC scrapped the Project Southgate data-centre partnership with Firmus, saying their focus had diverged from Firmus's international model (ABC, ACS)","UniSuper CIO John Pearce (ABC): 'We think that Firmus indeed has a compelling story. It just doesn't have a compelling valuation.'"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["neocloud","data-centers","ipo","australia","ai-bubble","nvidia","compute"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nFirmus had priced its ASX float at A$11 a share and was two weeks from listing when it pulled the offer on Oct 9. The book had drawn\nweak institutional demand amid concerns about the company's debt, its short track record and the loss of its Project Southgate partner\nCDC. The withdrawal came a day after AI infrastructure stocks fell on the FT's report that OpenAI's run-rate revenue was near $50B\nrather than $70B.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt is the first large AI-infrastructure IPO of the 2026 cycle to fail, and a test of public-market appetite for leveraged \"neoclouds\"\nahead of the expected Anthropic, OpenAI and Lambda listings. (The CNBC page returned 403 to our fetcher; facts are from ABC, ACS and\nthe Breakingviews summary.)","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-10-08-openai-arr-50b-ft-ai-stocks-fall","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-08-openai-arr-50b-ft-ai-stocks-fall/","date":"2026-10-08","date_precision":"day","short_title":"FT: OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was nearing $50B, not $70B","deck":"AI stocks fall","takeaway":"OpenAI's revenue is a proxy for whether the industry's capital spending can be paid back.","category":"business","category_label":"Business","importance":4,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"partly","labels":["Partly confirmed"]},"sources":9,"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-08","updated":"2026-10-09","orgs":["OpenAI"]},{"id":"2026-10-06-lambda-4b-pre-ipo-round","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-06-lambda-4b-pre-ipo-round/","date":"2026-10-06","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Nvidia-backed neocloud Lambda raising up to $4B at $14.5B pre-money, led by Blackstone and Coatue, before a 2027 IPO","deck":null,"takeaway":"Neocloud valuations now rest on a few frontier-lab contracts; Lambda's jump in backlog came mainly from one customer, Anthropic.","category":"business","category_label":"Business","importance":2,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"partly","labels":["Partly confirmed"]},"sources":2,"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-07","updated":"2026-10-07","orgs":["Lambda","Blackstone","Coatue"]}],"people":[],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-10-09","type":"filed","text":"Created (Reuters Breakingviews via Google News)"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-10-09","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-10-09","human_review":null,"version":null},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":162,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":101,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-3-8-flash","name":"Gemini 3.8 Flash","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":192,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":131,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}