Firmus, the Sydney-based data centre and infrastructure specialist, is reportedly seeking $10 billion in debt financing to secure a massive stockpile of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips. The capital injection is intended to fuel the company’s ambitious expansion into Indonesia, coming just months before a planned listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that could see its valuation eclipse tech giants like Canva.
The company, co-led by entrepreneur Oliver Curtis, is positioning itself as a primary gateway for AI processing power in Southeast Asia. The $10 billion funding round is specifically targeted at procurement for high-end Nvidia GPUs, which remain the world’s most sought-after hardware for training and deploying large language models. This move represents one of the largest private debt raisings for hardware procurement in the global technology sector this year, reflecting the unprecedented demand for AI-ready infrastructure.
The chips are destined for a massive data centre project in Indonesia, a market currently undergoing a rapid digital transformation. By establishing a sovereign-grade AI hub in the region, Firmus aims to provide the compute power necessary for local governments and enterprises to develop domestic AI capabilities without relying solely on Western or Chinese cloud providers. The project aligns with Indonesia’s broader push to modernise its digital economy, supported by recent estimates from industry analysts suggesting the nation’s digital sector could reach $130 billion by 2025.
Indonesia’s Strategic Role in Global AI Infrastructure
The scale of the investment underscores the shift in how data centres are being financed and built. Unlike traditional cloud facilities, Firmus utilises a proprietary “Grid” technology—a fluid-submerged cooling system that allows for significantly higher power density. This technology is critical for running Nvidia’s latest Blackwell and H100 architectures, which generate levels of heat that conventional air-cooling systems struggle to manage. By deploying this technology in Indonesia, Firmus is betting that it can offer more efficient and cost-effective compute power than traditional hyper-scalers.
Financial analysts are closely watching the development, as the $10 billion debt facility is expected to serve as a launchpad for an initial public offering (IPO) on the ASX. Early reports suggest that the listing could value Firmus at over $30 billion, potentially making it the most valuable technology company to ever list in Australia. This would place the firm ahead of the design platform Canva, which was recently valued at approximately $26 billion in secondary share sales. The contrast is stark, as Firmus is an infrastructure-heavy business compared to Canva’s software-as-a-service model.
However, the rapid ascent of Firmus has not been without scrutiny. The company’s co-CEO, Oliver Curtis, has maintained a high profile in Australian business circles, partly due to his 2016 conviction and subsequent imprisonment for insider trading. Despite this, he has successfully rebuilt his professional standing, leading Firmus from a startup seven years ago to a major player in the global AI race. Alongside co-founder Danny Milham, Curtis has managed to attract significant interest from institutional lenders who are eager to gain exposure to the unrelenting demand for Nvidia-powered infrastructure.
The procurement of Nvidia chips remains a bottleneck for many global firms. By securing $10 billion in financing upfront, Firmus is attempting to jump to the front of the queue, ensuring that its Indonesian facility is operational ahead of regional competitors. The global scramble for AI hardware has seen lead times for some Nvidia products extend to nearly a year, making capital-heavy, early-mover strategies essential for infrastructure providers.
As Firmus prepares for its ASX float, the company must convince investors that its high-debt strategy is sustainable in a volatile interest-rate environment. The success of the Indonesian project will be a critical proof of concept. If Firmus can demonstrate that its cooling technology and regional placement provide a genuine competitive advantage, it could redefine the economics of data centres in emerging markets. The coming months will be pivotal as the company finalises its debt arrangements and moves toward what is expected to be a landmark listing for the Australian equity market.
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