Firmus faces investor doubts and local opposition ahead of multibillion-dollar float
Firmus Technologies is preparing for a multibillion-dollar Australian sharemarket listing as it plans a large expansion of AI datacentres, but its projections and valuation are drawing investor scepticism. In Tasmania, local opposition has grown over how the company secured approval for a major facility, raising questions about community consultation and the practical risks facing its development plans.
The proposed $7bn IPO would be Australia’s second largest on record, after Telstra’s $14bn sale in 1997. Firmus’s implied valuation has risen from just under $2bn to a targeted $40bn or more in less than a year, while some analysts have floated $100bn; the company currently operates two facilities, in Melbourne and Singapore. Its draft prospectus forecasts $5bn in annual earnings as its largely unbuilt pipeline advances, a projection one investment manager called “a little bit of a fairytale”; the company declined to comment on the forecast and valuation.
- Firmus is targeting a $7bn IPO.
- Investors question its valuation and earnings forecasts.
- Tasmanian residents criticise its consultation over datacentre plans.
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Firmus Technologies is an Australian company that operates artificial intelligence datacentres. The company is preparing for a major sharemarket listing, known as an initial public offering or IPO, to raise funds for a large expansion of its facilities.
The planned listing would value the company at around $7 billion or more, making it Australia's second-largest IPO on record. However, Firmus's valuation has risen dramatically in recent months, and some of the company's financial projections have been questioned by investment professionals who doubt whether the forecasts are realistic.
The expansion plans have prompted opposition from local communities, particularly in Tasmania where a major new facility is planned. There are concerns about how the company secured approval for the site and whether residents were adequately consulted, highlighting tensions between Firmus's ambitions to grow and community worries about the development.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
AI datacentres represent genuinely transformative infrastructure with substantial long-term value creation potential, and Firmus operates two functioning facilities rather than existing only on paper. Australia requires competitive datacentre capacity to remain relevant in the global AI economy, and ambitious growth projections in a rapidly expanding sector merit consideration from sophisticated investors who will ultimately validate the valuation through market forces.
The case against
The valuation expansion from approximately $2bn to $40bn or more within a single year, vastly exceeding the scale suggested by just two operating facilities, indicates speculative framing rather than grounded value growth. Investment professionals publicly describing the earnings forecasts as fairytales, combined with the company's refusal to defend its own projections, raises legitimate concerns about credibility and transparency. Communities deserve genuine consultation on major industrial projects affecting their regions, and substantive questions about the Tasmanian approval process warrant careful examination.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “‘These guys are just coming from nothing’: questions over multibillion-dollar Firmus float amid datacentre backlash”.