At a glance

  • Firmus runs two AI factories, in Australia and Singapore, and has five more under development across the Asia-Pacific, according to Reuters.

  • Once developed, the sites are estimated to earn a combined US$5 billion a year within five years, a person told Reuters.

  • The company's announced projects include a 360MW campus in Batam, Indonesia, and two Malaysian sites with OpenAI as anchor customer.

  • A draft prospectus forecasts an adjusted after-tax loss of US$77 million for the six months to 31 December 2026, with float proceeds funding further capital spending.

  • Firmus is due to lodge its prospectus on 8 October, ahead of a planned 22 October ASX listing.

Australian AI infrastructure company and neocloud Firmus estimates its AI factories will earn a combined US$5 billion a year within five years once they are developed, Reuters reported on 24 September, citing unnamed sources. Two of its seven sites are operating and five are under development. The company is seeking about US$5 billion, or A$7 billion, in its ASX listing. Firmus declined to comment.

Firmus's draft prospectus forecasts a US$77 million loss for the six months to December 2026, a period in which five of its seven AI factories are under development.

Timeline of Firmus's path to the ASX: contracted capacity passes 900MW on 8 September 2026, US$10 billion Batam chip financing talks reported on 23 September, draft prospectus figures reported on 24 September, institutional bookbuild on 6 and 7 October, prospectus lodged on 8 October, offer to individual investors from 12 to 19 October, and trading on the ASX from 22 October

Two AI factories operating and five in development

Firmus has two operational data centres, in Australia and Singapore, and five more under development across the Asia-Pacific, Reuters reported. Firmus's own release of 8 September gave the same count, put its contracted capacity above 900MW and said it expects the five to start operating over the following 24 months.

Map of Firmus data centre and AI factory locations in Australia and Asia: operating sites in Melbourne and Singapore, and announced projects at Batam in Indonesia (360MW), Bell Bay (288MW), St Leonards in Launceston (90MW) and Wesley Vale (about 52MW) in Tasmania, planned campuses at Tailem Bend and Stirling North in South Australia (2.7GW), plus two sites in Malaysia with OpenAI as anchor customer

Its announced projects include a 360MW campus in Batam, Indonesia, sized for up to 170,000 NVIDIA GPUs and the subject of US$10 billion chip financing talks reported on 23 September, and two Malaysian sites with OpenAI as anchor customer. Each is an AI factory, a data centre built to run large clusters of NVIDIA chips, which Firmus rents to large technology companies as one of the neocloud providers in Australia.

US$5 billion a year across the developed sites

Firmus estimates its data centres, once developed, will make a combined US$5 billion in annual earnings within five years, a person told Reuters. Reuters named NVIDIA, Meta and OpenAI among Firmus's customers.

Float proceeds go to further capital spending

The draft prospectus forecasts an after-tax loss of US$77 million for the first half of the financial year ending 30 June 2027, on a pro forma basis, according to two people familiar with it. Pro forma figures are adjusted to show the company as it will be structured after the float.

Firmus's losses to date reflect the cost of developing and growing the business to be able to enter into substantial agreements with customers, one of the people told Reuters. The money raised in the float will fund further capital spending.

What to watch

The float timetable. Institutional investors bid for shares on 6 and 7 October, according to the term sheet reported by Reuters on 21 September. Firmus is due to lodge its prospectus on 8 October, the offer to individual investors runs from 12 to 19 October, and trading is due to begin on 22 October.