Firmus Technologies has raised AUD 330 million in equity funding to accelerate construction of its flagship Project Southgate in Launceston, Tasmania, in what it said will become Australia’s first sovereign, renewable-powered AI factory campus.
The funding round, which was materially upsized, was led by Ellerston Capital with participation from Nvidia and strong backing from Australian institutional and high-net-worth investors. The raise values Firmus at AUD 1.85 billion. Morgans acted as sole lead manager, with Highbury Partnership as financial advisor.
Project Southgate, a multibillion-dollar development in Tasmania’s new Green AI Factory Zone, will be delivered in partnership with the Tasmanian government. The site will house 36,000 Nvidia GPUs across two stages and is designed for compute density, energy efficiency and AI workload flexibility.
“Our mission is to create the most efficient AI infrastructure,” said Tim Rosenfield, co-CEO of Firmus. “The Firmus AI Factory is built for peak efficiency in every form – cost, energy, water, and space. With efficiency as our foundation, we’re working to change the conversation: giving Australians genuine agency over how AI becomes part of our country’s future.”
Oliver Curtis, co-CEO of Firmus, said the project marked the beginning of an AI industry in Australia. “Project Southgate is the beginning of Australia’s AI factory era. Building sovereign capability, creating new industries, and ensuring Australia plays a defining role in the global AI economy. This multibillion dollar investment into Tasmania will bring new skills, hundreds of local jobs, and the opportunity to repurpose industrial infrastructure into a globally relevant AI industry.”
Five-hectare site
The facility, approved by Launceston Council in July, will be built on a five-hectare site in St Leonards. Stage 1 will deliver 90MW of AI infrastructure by 2026, beginning with a 44MW phase and expanding to 90MW before a planned second stage of 300MW. Conditions have been imposed to manage environmental and community impacts, including landscaping, stormwater treatment and noise controls.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff welcomed the investment, saying it would secure Tasmania’s position in sustainable digital infrastructure. “The establishment of the Green AI Factory Zone marks a new era of investment and innovation for Tasmania. We are proud to support Firmus Technologies as it builds Australia’s first green AI factory right here in the North, delivering jobs, skills, and economic momentum for generations to come,” he said.
Firmus’s modular “liquid-everywhere” AI Factory platform is designed to evolve with Nvidia’s latest technologies, including Spectrum-X Ethernet networking and Nemotron open models. The company says its system consumes up to 60% less energy and costs around half as much to build as traditional data centres, making AI compute more cost-efficient.
David Leslie of Ellerston Capital said: “Firmus is pioneering a new era of efficient AI deployment, and we’re excited to lead this raise as they expand their sovereign infrastructure footprint.”
Construction is expected to begin shortly, with Project Southgate scheduled to be operational by mid-2026.