Firmus Technologies has withdrawn a planned stock-market listing that was expected to be Australia’s largest corporate debut in decades. According to Guardian Australia, the AI data center startup had been seeking a valuation of about $44 billion and intended to raise $7 billion before listing on the Australian Securities Exchange on October 23.

The company said its board concluded that continuing with the offer was no longer in the best interests of Firmus and its shareholders. A spokesperson said Firmus would instead seek capital in private markets while considering other public and private options. The company did not provide a replacement timetable.

The abandoned float was expected to be the biggest ASX listing since Telstra’s 1997 debut. But the Guardian reported growing investor skepticism about applying such a large valuation to a startup with only two small sites currently operating. Firmus’s backers include Nvidia and the investment firms Blackstone, Jane Street and Coatue.

Two operating data centers sit before a much larger translucent network of planned facilities.
Firmus must now seek private capital to fund its proposed liquid-cooled AI facilities across Australia and Asia.

The listing effort began to come apart after bankers misjudged demand for the proposed offering, according to the report. An investment manager briefed on the process said discussions turned to a substantial reduction in the proposed $11 share price. Firmus ultimately withdrew its listing application rather than proceed at a lower price.

That decision changes how the company must finance its expansion. Firmus plans to build liquid-cooled facilities described as AI factories across Australia and Asia. Without the public offering, those plans will depend on private capital or another financing route that the company has yet to detail.

The failed float also affected companies already connected to Firmus. Guardian Australia reported that shares in Maas Group, a Firmus investor, fell more than 20% on Thursday. The expected paper wealth of Firmus founders Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee will also be substantially lower without the proposed valuation being tested in the public market.

Two contrasting data center plans separate toward resilience-focused and commercially driven paths.
CDC said its infrastructure mission and development approach had diverged from Firmus’s strategy.

Investor unease extended beyond the headline valuation. The Guardian had previously reported concern that early investors could use the float to sell their positions to retail buyers, leaving smaller investors exposed if enthusiasm faded. The latest report does not establish that such sales would have occurred, but the concern formed part of the skepticism surrounding the offer.

A separate setback arrived during the same week. Established data center operator CDC ended Project Southgate, a proposed $73 billion partnership with Firmus intended to develop sovereign, renewable-powered AI infrastructure. The project had named Nvidia as its first customer when it was announced in October last year.

CDC chief strategy officer Jack Dan told an Australian parliamentary committee that the companies’ missions and approaches had diverged. He described CDC as focused on critical infrastructure, resilience and near-continuous availability, supported by rigorous processes. He said Firmus had adopted a different, more commercially oriented development approach.

The withdrawn IPO does not by itself determine whether Firmus can build its planned data center network. It does show that public investors were unwilling to support the proposed terms despite prominent backers and intense demand for AI infrastructure. Firmus must now persuade private investors that its expansion plans can justify a valuation the public market declined to endorse.