Nvidia-backed Firmus raises $2 billion for AI factories

Firmus, an AI data-centre developer that began as a bitcoin miner, has raised $2 billion in equity funding, pushing its post-money valuation above $10.5 billion. Nvidia and Coatue Management made follow-on investments, joined by funds managed by Blackstone and by Jane Street. The valuation nearly doubles the $5.5 billion Firmus commanded in April.

The capital will fund the next phase of Firmus's Project Southgate AI factory in Australia and support expansion into other Asia-Pacific markets. The company, which now designs and operates data centres purpose-built for AI workloads, has repositioned its balance sheet and engineering expertise away from cryptocurrency mining entirely.

A former bitcoin miner now backed by Nvidia and Blackstone shows how completely AI compute demand has redirected capital once aimed at mining rigs toward chips built for training and inference instead.