On Friday, Firmus Grid withdrew the paperwork to list on the Australian Securities Exchange and said it would pursue alternative financing options. The board explained the move this way: "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 and long-term growth outlook." The IPO had targeted about $5 billion in proceeds, and the company had recently been indicating strong investor appetite for terms implying a $30 billion valuation.
People familiar with the situation said a US listing could be revisited down the road. A Firmus representative declined to comment.
Firmus and its advisers are in active discussions with existing investors about a private round of $2 billion to $3 billion, according to people with knowledge of the talks, with the overall effort aiming for as much as $3 billion. The deal's blueprint is still being drawn up and may include both equity and debt. The people did not say whether Nvidia would join.
Current backers had already planned to put up roughly half of the funds the company expected to raise in the IPO, which could speed this new push. Discussions are ongoing, details like the final size could shift, and no firm decisions have been made.
Pulling an IPO and raising privately is a judgment about public appetite. Market Briefs covers the listing market free every morning.
Interest began to fade soon after the order book for institutional investors opened this week. Some believed Firmus was well positioned to ride the AI wave, while others balked at the valuation and worried that early holders might rush to sell after the debut.
Broader market jitters did not help. Close to $500 billion in fresh debt has been sold this year to fund AI infrastructure, and heavier borrowing needs coupled with higher rates have pushed up credit-insurance costs and hurt tech debt performance.
UniSuper, one of Australia's largest pension funds, sat out the IPO process.
Firmus aims to construct "AI factories" using hardware from backer Nvidia. Investor materials show a 912 megawatt development pipeline, with 46MW completed so far. Proceeds from the shelved float would have gone toward buying graphics chips for its first data center in Batam, Indonesia, being constructed with DayOne Data Centers under an eight-year tie-up with Nvidia. Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Morgans Financial Ltd. were joint lead managers on the planned IPO.
The fallout extends beyond one listing. Other AI infrastructure names are tiptoeing: AI cloud provider Nscale Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp.-backed SB Energy Inc. submitted paperwork for US listings last month but have not started marketing. This week, Singapore-based DayOne Data Centers Ltd. made a public filing and, on the timeline, can start courting investors on Oct. 21. Market watchers are also eyeing a potential blockbuster from Anthropic PBC as early as November.
For your wallet, the signal is straightforward: investors are pressing for proof over promises in AI infrastructure, and timelines plus terms matter. Firmus is seeking private capital now and could revisit public markets later, including in the US, but the price of money and the pace of execution are doing more of the talking than the hype.
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