Firmus, an artificial intelligence data centre operator backed by Nvidia, has withdrawn its planned $5 billion initial public offering (IPO), dealing a setback to Australia’s capital markets, which have been facing a decline in listed companies and a weak pipeline of new listings.
The company withdrew its listing plans on Friday, October 9, 2026, citing market volatility and prevailing conditions. Firmus said it would pursue a private fundraising round instead.
The proposed IPO was expected to be one of the largest listings in Australia’s history. At $5 billion, it would have ranked as the fourth-largest public offering globally so far in 2026, behind SpaceX, CXMT Corp and Cerebras Systems, according to Dealogic data. It would also have been the second-largest IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), behind Telstra Corporation’s $10 billion flotation in 1997.
The withdrawal comes as the ASX faces challenges in attracting new listings. Investors have pointed to a declining number of publicly listed companies following major privatisations in recent years, alongside limited new IPO activity. Some money managers had viewed Firmus’s proposed listing as an opportunity to bring a major technology company to the market and offer investors alternatives to Australia’s dominant banking and mining sectors.
According to LSEG data, Australia recorded $1.37 billion in new share sales during the first nine months of 2026. Although this was the highest level since 2021, it remained significantly below activity on competing exchanges. Hong Kong, for example, saw 118 companies, primarily from the technology sector, raise approximately $50 billion through IPOs over the same period, according to data from the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The number of companies listed on the ASX has also declined. In September 2026, the exchange had 1,891 listed companies, down from 2,066 in 2016, according to the market operator. Investors have attributed part of the decline to takeovers by private companies, particularly in the infrastructure sector.
Oscar Oberg, lead portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, which has invested in Firmus since last year, said the abandoned listing was disappointing for the Australian market. He noted that a major technology IPO would have offered investors a new investment opportunity.
Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments and capital markets at VanEck Australia, said the withdrawal was a setback for market diversity. He pointed out that Australia’s benchmark share index remains heavily concentrated in the country’s four major banks and large mining companies, including BHP and Rio Tinto.
Firmus’s decision also comes amid broader investor scrutiny of valuations in the AI infrastructure sector. The company’s proposed listing had attracted attention because of its scale and its connection to the growing demand for data centres supporting artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, London-listed mining company Glencore is expected to begin trading on the ASX on October 14, 2026. Its chief executive said on Friday that the company had received strong interest from potential investors, a development that could further increase the representation of mining businesses on the exchange.
Firmus’s move to pursue private funding leaves Australia’s stock market without a major technology listing that investors had hoped would broaden investment choices and help strengthen the exchange’s IPO pipeline.
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