The investment signals a broader strategic push beyond chip sales, affirming an AI infrastructure ecosystem and helping guarantee demand for Nvidia hardware in new facilities.

This latest raise brings Firmus’s total financing to about US$1.35 billion within six months, following prior rounds.

A global hyperscaler client has signed on to Project Southgate in Australia, with sites in Tasmania achieving a promising PUE around 1.03, though some observers question the efficiency claims.

Risks include potential circular investment, execution delays in large-scale builds, and competition from North American data center builders and hyperscalers.

The deal underscores Australia’s rising role as a hub for AI infrastructure, supported by renewable energy, favorable regulation, and proximity to the Asia-Pacific market, with peers like NEXTDC expanding debt facilities and AI initiatives.

Project Southgate, developed with Nvidia and CDC Data Centres, could scale up to 1.6 gigawatts of capacity over three years, starting with sites in Melbourne and Tasmania.

Firmus aims to deploy 1.6 gigawatts of liquid-cooled AI compute across five Australian locations by 2028, beginning with Southgate in Launceston delivering 90 megawatts in its first stage in 2026.

The initiative, called Project Southgate, is an energy-efficient AI data center network in Australia that leverages Nvidia reference designs.

The equity funding complements a $10 billion debt package led by Blackstone and precedes an ASX IPO targeting roughly $2 billion in the public listing.

The round signals rising investor appetite for AI infrastructure as a distinct asset class, with expectations of a regional data center surge and an Australian listing later in 2026.

The story highlights the growing importance of Asia-Pacific AI infrastructure for regional growth and data security, pointing to broader shifts in global AI deployment.

Nvidia co-led a US$505 million funding round for Firmus Technologies, a data center developer building next-generation AI hardware facilities across Asia Pacific.