Firmus readies $7bn ASX float as Tasmania datacentre backlash grows

Australian datacentre developer Firmus Technologies is preparing to raise $7bn in an initial public offering on the ASX later this month — a listing that would rank as the second-biggest IPO in Australian history.

The float arrives amid a brewing backlash against the company's "AI factories" in Tasmania, where residents say they learned of the multibillion-dollar plans only after construction began.

From her balcony in Launceston, Kayla Thompson can see the construction site of what will soon be one of Australia's first AI factories. Her teenage stepchildren get an even clearer view from their classroom window.

Like many of her neighbours, Thompson didn't realise Firmus had an ambitious plan to build datacentres in Tasmania until the bulldozers arrived.

Why does the float matter?

A $7bn raise would place Firmus among the largest listings ever seen on the Australian Securities Exchange, and it would do so on the back of infrastructure — AI datacentres — that has become one of the most capital-hungry sectors in global technology.

The offering is also a test of investor appetite for AI infrastructure plays outside the US mega-cap ecosystem. And scepticism is already loud: investors warned the company's forecasts are "a little bit of a fairytale."

Who is questioning the company?

Critics quoted in Guardian Australia's reporting point to the speed and opacity of Firmus's rise.

"These guys are just coming from nothing," one observer said of the company's trajectory toward a multibillion-dollar valuation — a leap that has drawn comparisons to the most speculative corners of the AI funding boom.

The concerns cut in two directions:

• Financial: investors question whether the forecasts underpinning the $7bn raise hold up under scrutiny.
• Social: Tasmanian residents, including Thompson's family, live with the construction without having been meaningfully consulted beforehand.

What happens next?

Firmus is expected to list on the ASX later this month if the anticipated IPO completes as planned. The outcome will signal whether Australian markets will fund AI datacentre buildouts at scale — and whether companies can do so without first winning over the communities that host them.