When Australia talks about becoming a global AI powerhouse, Firmus is positioning itself at the center of that transformation. The company has secured another $500 million in equity, pushing its valuation to roughly $6 billion—fueling a nationwide rollout of sovereign, high-performance AI infrastructure.
Expanding Project Southgate Across Australia
Firmus Technologies confirmed new investor commitments to accelerate development of its flagship initiative, Project Southgate, including site expansion across:
- Tasmania
- Melbourne
- Canberra
- Sydney
- Perth
The funding will be invested into infrastructure manufacturing, energy partnerships, and continued build-out of AI facilities designed to strengthen Australia’s sovereign compute capabilities.
Firmus co-CEO Oliver Curtis said the new capital allows the company to deliver the next phase of Southgate at scale:
“This raise allows us to move beyond Tasmania into four major mainland regions. We’re manufacturing a new class of AI infrastructure on Australian soil—purpose-built for scale, performance, and sustainability.”
He added that this expansion translates to high-value local jobs, greater national capability, and long-term economic benefit.
Driving Efficient AI Growth Aligned with Renewable Energy
Fellow co-CEO Tim Rosenfield said Firmus’ vertically integrated AI Factory platform positions the company to scale more efficiently than traditional infrastructure providers.
“With demand for AI infrastructure accelerating, this funding ensures we can meet it quickly, cost-effectively, and in line with Australia’s renewable energy future.”
The raise was led by Morgans as sole lead manager, with Highbury Partnerships acting as advisor.
Morgans executive director Rob Douglas highlighted strong investor confidence following Firmus’ alliances with CDC Data Centres and customer acquisition by NVIDIA.
This follows Firmus’ $330 million equity placement in September, backed by Ellerston Capital and NVIDIA.
Strengthening the Senior Leadership Team
Alongside its funding milestone, Firmus has added two major hires to support its next phase of growth:
- Nicole Reid, Chief People Officer (formerly Chief People Officer at Xero, with experience at Microsoft, AMP, Optus, and Sun Microsystems)
- Anthony McGough, A/NZ Vice President of Sales (brings 30+ years in enterprise tech, including eight years at AWS, plus roles at IBM, Dell EMC, Futiro and more)
McGough said the company is addressing one of the most urgent transitions in cloud computing:
“I joined Firmus because it’s tackling one of the biggest shifts in cloud right now—helping enterprises run AI workloads that are sovereign, sustainable, and cost-efficient.”
These appointments follow the earlier hiring of Grant Dempsey as incoming Chair and Kirsty Godfrey-Billy as CFO in late September.
A Strategic Boost for Australia’s AI Future
With major backing, growing government-aligned partnerships, and a strengthened leadership bench, Firmus is stepping into a pivotal role in Australia’s AI landscape.
The company aims to deliver the sovereign, energy-aligned, high-performance AI infrastructure needed to support enterprise, government, and innovation sectors nationwide.