---
id: "2026-10-09-firmus-withdraws-asx-ipo"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-09-firmus-withdraws-asx-ipo/"
as_of: "2026-10-09T19:24:00+02:00"
date: "2026-10-09"
date_precision: day
category: business
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 4
editor: Adam Bicz
human_review: null
version: null
---

As of: 2026-10-09 19:24 CEST.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code). Human editor: Adam Bicz.
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-09-firmus-withdraws-asx-ipo/

# Nvidia-backed AI data-centre builder Firmus pulls its A$7B ASX IPO, the biggest planned Australian float since Telstra

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.'

## What happened

Firmus 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
weak institutional demand amid concerns about the company's debt, its short track record and the loss of its Project Southgate partner
CDC. The withdrawal came a day after AI infrastructure stocks fell on the FT's report that OpenAI's run-rate revenue was near $50B
rather than $70B.

## Why it matters

It is the first large AI-infrastructure IPO of the 2026 cycle to fail, and a test of public-market appetite for leveraged "neoclouds"
ahead of the expected Anthropic, OpenAI and Lambda listings. (The CNBC page returned 403 to our fetcher; facts are from ABC, ACS and
the Breakingviews summary.)

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 162 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 101 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (training cutoff March 2026): 192 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 131 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [ABC News: Data centre operator Firmus pulls blockbuster ASX float after lacklustre demand (Oct 9)](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-09/firmus-float-gets-pulled-following-lacklustre-investor-demand/107246230) (abc.net.au, press)
2. [ACS Information Age: Australian data centre company Firmus scraps ASX float](https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/australian-data-centre-company-firmus-scraps-asx-float.html) (ia.acs.org.au, press)
3. [Reuters Breakingviews: Failed AI IPO puts fear before FOMO (Oct 9)](https://www.breakingviews.com/columns/considered-view/failed-ai-ipo-puts-fear-before-fomo-2026-10-09/) (breakingviews.com, press)
4. [CNBC: Nvidia-backed Aussie AI firm Firmus withdraws historic IPO, citing market volatility](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/09/nvidia-ai-firmus-ipo-.html) (cnbc.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-10-09 (filed): Created (Reuters Breakingviews via Google News)

## Related

- 2026-10-08: [FT: OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was nearing $50B, not $70B](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-08-openai-arr-50b-ft-ai-stocks-fall/index.md)
- 2026-10-06: [Nvidia-backed neocloud Lambda raising up to $4B at $14.5B pre-money, led by Blackstone and Coatue, before a 2027 IPO](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-06-lambda-4b-pre-ipo-round/index.md)