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Former Bitcoin miner Firmus raises $2B as Blackstone, Nvidia back AI push
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Former Bitcoin miner Firmus raises $2B as Blackstone, Nvidia back AI push
Former Bitcoin miner Firmus has raised $2 billion in fresh equity, lifting its valuation above $10.5 billion.Blackstone, Nvidia, Coatue and Jane Street participated in the funding round to support the company’s AI infrastructure expansion.The new capital will accelerate Project Southgate in Australia while funding early expansion into Indonesia and other Asia Pacific markets.The raise brings Firmus’ total equity funding over the past year to more than $3 billion as it scales AI factory deployments.
2026-08-07 Source:crypto.news

Firmus, a former Bitcoin mining company that has repositioned itself as an AI infrastructure provider, has secured $2 billion in new equity funding, lifting its post-money valuation above $10.5 billion as it expands AI factory projects across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Summary
  • Former Bitcoin miner Firmus has raised $2 billion in fresh equity, lifting its valuation above $10.5 billion.
  • Blackstone, Nvidia, Coatue and Jane Street participated in the funding round to support the company’s AI infrastructure expansion.
  • The new capital will accelerate Project Southgate in Australia while funding early expansion into Indonesia and other Asia Pacific markets.
  • The raise brings Firmus’ total equity funding over the past year to more than $3 billion as it scales AI factory deployments.

According to Firmus, the strategic equity round received full investment commitments from existing backers Coatue and Nvidia, alongside new funding from funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and other Blackstone vehicles, with additional participation from global trading and technology firm Jane Street.

The latest raise nearly doubles Firmus’ valuation from the $5.5 billion level recorded during its April funding round. It also brings the company’s total equity raised over the past year to more than $3 billion, providing additional capital for Project Southgate, its AI factory rollout across Australia.

Firmus funding supports Project Southgate expansion

Under the new financing, Firmus plans to accelerate the next stage of Project Southgate while preparing for development across selected Asia-Pacific markets. The company said part of the investment will support early work on its recently announced Indonesia project, which is intended to serve AI-native customers.

Firmus added that it has already established Australian manufacturing for its proprietary HyperCube platform. It is building AI infrastructure based on Nvidia’s DSX AI Factory Reference Architecture, which the company said is designed to bring computing capacity online more quickly while improving tokens per watt and system resiliency.

“This investment allows us to move on multiple fronts at once,” Co-Chief Executive Officer Oliver Curtis said.

“We’re scaling across Australia while fast-tracking our capacity to expand into the wider Asia-Pacific region, including the early steps behind our recently announced Indonesia development that will serve AI-native customers,” Curtis added.

The company and Nvidia strengthened their relationship in late June through an agreement under which Firmus would purchase Nvidia infrastructure while offering cloud services powered by the chipmaker’s technology. The latest financing extends that relationship with Nvidia participating again as an investor.

Blackstone, Coatue and Jane Street deepen AI infrastructure bets

Blackstone’s participation adds another major institutional investor to the financing round at a time when large investment firms continue increasing exposure to AI infrastructure.

“We believe AI infrastructure will be a foundational driver of global growth and it is among our highest conviction investment themes,” John Watson, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said.

“We are pleased to continue to invest in Firmus and support platforms at the forefront of AI innovation,” he added.

Coatue also increased its investment in the company after backing an earlier funding round.

“We continue to believe Firmus represents a differentiated approach to AI infrastructure,” Robert Yin, General Partner at Coatue, said.

According to Yin, the company’s combination of proprietary technology, manufacturing capabilities and a repeatable deployment model positions it to support demand from both AI-native businesses and enterprise customers as computing requirements continue increasing.

Jane Street also joined the funding round.

“As AI models become larger and more capable, access to reliable, high-performance compute becomes increasingly important,” Daniel Pontecorvo, Head of Physical Engineering at Jane Street, said.

Pontecorvo added that Firmus is building infrastructure needed for the next generation of AI systems, which supported the firm’s decision to invest.

AI infrastructure attracts fresh capital

The financing comes as investors continue directing capital toward companies building physical AI infrastructure instead of focusing only on chip manufacturers.

Industry participants have increasingly targeted data centers, electricity infrastructure and high-performance computing capacity as demand for AI services expands. Earlier this year, Core Scientific agreed to provide AMD with up to 2.5 gigawatts of data center capacity beginning in 2027 as the former Bitcoin miner continued converting mining sites into AI infrastructure.

IREN has also accelerated its AI strategy after completing the acquisition of Spain-based Nostrum Group in June. The transaction added about 490 megawatts of secured grid-connected power and expanded IREN’s European AI cloud footprint while AI cloud revenue continued growing faster than its Bitcoin mining business.

More recently, Hyperscale Data sold approximately 100 Bitcoin and secured a Bitcoin-backed credit facility to finance construction of its Michigan AI campus. The company said the financing would help fund infrastructure for an AI contract that could exceed $3 billion if all expansion and extension options are exercised.

Alongside those projects, publicly listed Bitcoin miners have continued repositioning power assets toward AI computing as long-term infrastructure agreements become an increasingly important source of contracted revenue. Industry data published in late July also showed Bitcoin mining difficulty remained well below its 2025 peak while companies pursued AI data center investments to diversify income.

Australia remains central to Firmus’ rollout

While preparing projects elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Firmus said Australia will remain the primary focus for the newly raised capital.

According to the company, its existing manufacturing capability and software platform provide the foundation for faster deployment of AI infrastructure across domestic sites before additional regional expansion proceeds.

The company also stated that the transaction is a private financing and not a public securities offering. Firmus said the securities issued in the round have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States except under an applicable exemption from registration requirements.