SYDNEY — Firmus Technologies has withdrawn its blockbuster initial public offering, scrapping what would have been Australia's second-largest listing on record and dealing a heavy blow to hopes of a global IPO revival.
The Nvidia-backed data centre operator, which had priced its shares at A$11 apiece for a market value of almost A$44 billion (about US$31 billion), said on Friday, October 9 — the very day it was due to publish its prospectus — that it would not proceed.
The planned US$5 billion raise would have ranked as the fourth-largest public offering in the world this year, behind only SpaceX, CXMT Corp and Cerebras Systems, according to Dealogic data.
Investors balked at the price tag
In a statement, Firmus blamed "recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions", saying the board had 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 company said it would instead pursue a private fundraising round and consider alternative public and private-market options.
Prospective shareholders had balked at the valuation. UniSuper, one of Australia's biggest pension funds, declined to take part in the IPO process. Its chief investment officer, John Pearce, said the company had "a compelling story" but "not a compelling valuation", adding: "So much has to go right to justify the valuation."
"Investors are increasingly on edge," said Phil Wool, head of portfolio management at Rayliant Global Advisors. "Firmus was going to be one of the biggest Australian IPOs ever, so from that perspective, it registers as a historical fail."
Fallout for the ASX and Firmus's partners
The collapse rattled the Australian market. Construction services provider Maas Group — a Firmus shareholder — entered a trading halt on Friday pending an announcement about its contractual arrangements with the data centre operator.
Maas shares had plunged more than 20 per cent on Thursday after reports that Firmus was reconsidering the listing, erasing about A$517 million in market value.
"It's really bad," said Oscar Oberg, lead portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, a Firmus investor since last year. "I just think it would have been good for the market to have something new."
The failed listing is a setback for the Australian Securities Exchange, which has been grappling with a shrinking pool of listed companies. Just US$1.37 billion worth of new share sales took place in Australia in the first nine months of 2026, according to LSEG data.
A warning sign for the AI boom
Although the deal's term sheet said indicative orders were sufficient to cover the offering, investors told Reuters they were worried about Firmus's rapidly rising valuation, its ambitious expansion plans and its hefty debt pile.
Firmus, founded in 2019, designs and operates modular AI factories with proprietary energy and cooling technology, and counts OpenAI as its anchor customer alongside Meta. Its backers include Nvidia, Blackstone and Coatue.
In August it had raised US$2 billion at a post-money valuation of more than US$10.5 billion.
It is far from the only casualty. A Reuters factbox this week listed Wall Street brokerage Clear Street (which withdrew its US IPO in February), smart-ring maker Oura (which postponed a planned US$2.2 billion listing in September), Holtec Nuclear (which withdrew in September) and Bamboo Insurance (which postponed in late September).
Last month, data-centre company Accelevation Holdings priced its US debut below its marketed range — a further sign that the AI-funding boom is facing a reality check.
By Hamza Faisal · Oct 9, 2026
