A consortium led by Blackstone Inc. has provided a $10 billion loan to the Australian AI startup Firmus Technologies Pty. This is reported in a press release from Firmus.
The deal is aimed at accelerating the deployment of data centers as part of one of the largest private loan projects in Australia. The funds allocated by Firmus are managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Credit&Insurance.
Financing from the consortium, which also includes Coatue Capital LLC, is necessary to implement the next stage of expansion of the Firmus data center with the support of Nvidia Corp. By 2028, Firmus Technologies plans to build data centers in Australia with a total capacity of up to 1.6 GW.
The company plans to list its shares on the Sydney Stock Exchange at the end of 2026. In November 2025, Firmus raised 500 million Australian dollars for site development, infrastructure deployment, and energy deals. The company's value at that time was estimated at 6 billion Australian dollars.
Australia is becoming one of the main beneficiaries of the global construction of data centers worth 150 billion Australian dollars ($105 billion) and the third largest investment in artificial intelligence after the United States and China.
According to analysts, investments in AI infrastructure, including data centers, will exceed $3 trillion in borrowed funds over the next five years. Total capital expenditures of Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Microsoft Corp. they can reach $650 billion against the background of competition in the AI sector.
Blackstone Inc. is an American investment company for alternative asset management in the private equity, real estate, lending, hedge fund solutions, etc. Blackstone mainly serves institutional and individual investors. The headquarters is located in New York (USA). Blackstone manages assets worth $1.3 trillion, and the company's investment arm is worth $320 billion. Blackstone's European portfolio is estimated at 127 billion euros.
Firmus Technologies Pty Ltd. is an Australian startup in the field of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company offers a platform that includes cloud computing, AI storage, and an AI factory operating system for managing workloads. The headquarters is located in the state of St. Leonards (Australia).
