Key Takeaways:
A former Bitcoin miner just raised $2 billion from Blackstone, Nvidia, Coatue, and Jane Street to build GPU-powered AI factories across Australia and Southeast Asia.
Firmus, the Australian AI infrastructure provider that pivoted from Bitcoin mining, has secured $2 billion in equity funding, lifting its post-money valuation above $10.5 billion as institutional capital floods into GPU data center buildouts.
"This investment allows us to move on multiple fronts at once," Oliver Curtis, co-CEO at Firmus, said. "We're scaling across Australia while fast-tracking our capacity to expand into the wider Asia-Pacific region, including the early steps behind our recently announced Indonesia development."
The round nearly doubles Firmus's valuation from the $5.5 billion recorded in April and brings total equity raised over the past year to more than $3 billion. New investor Blackstone Tactical Opportunities joined existing backers Coatue and Nvidia, with Jane Street also participating. The capital will fund Project Southgate, Firmus's AI factory rollout across Australia, plus early work on a 170,000-GPU cluster on Indonesia's Batam island.
The raise shows how former crypto miners are becoming a critical supply source for AI compute. Firmus has secured estimated offtake agreements worth $25 billion to $30 billion over six years, according to Data Center Dynamics, and is exploring an ASX listing.
Blackstone, which manages more than $1 trillion in assets, has committed more than $100 billion globally to data center investments. John Watson, senior managing director at Blackstone, called AI infrastructure "a foundational driver of global growth" and "among our highest conviction investment themes." Coatue general partner Robert Yin said Firmus's combination of proprietary technology, manufacturing capability, and a repeatable deployment model supports demand from AI-native businesses and enterprise customers. Jane Street's Daniel Pontecorvo, head of physical engineering, said access to reliable high-performance compute becomes more important as AI models grow larger.
Firmus builds its infrastructure on Nvidia's DSX AI Factory Reference Architecture and has established Australian manufacturing for its proprietary HyperCube platform. The company and Nvidia strengthened ties in late June through an agreement under which Firmus would purchase Nvidia infrastructure while offering cloud services powered by the chipmaker's technology. The latest financing extends that relationship with Nvidia participating again as an investor.
The financing comes as investors direct capital toward companies building physical AI infrastructure rather than focusing only on chip manufacturers. Core Scientific agreed earlier this year to provide AMD with up to 2.5 gigawatts of data center capacity beginning in 2027. IREN completed its acquisition of Spain-based Nostrum Group in June, adding about 490 megawatts of grid-connected power and expanding its European AI cloud footprint. Hyperscale Data sold approximately 100 Bitcoin and secured a Bitcoin-backed credit facility to finance construction of its Michigan AI campus.
Firmus was founded in 2019 by Curtis, Tim Rosenfield, and Jonathan Levee, initially focused on crypto mining and high-performance compute before pivoting to AI infrastructure. The company now operates large-scale GPU clusters purpose-built for AI workloads. Secondary market trading has reportedly delivered early investors returns of up to 45 times their initial outlay. The company's prior funding includes a $505 million equity investment in April and a $330 million placement last September backed by Ellerston Capital and Nvidia.
The transaction is a private financing and not a public securities offering, Firmus said. The securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States except under an applicable exemption.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
