# Firmus transforms from Bitcoin miner to $10.5B AI infrastructure company after raising $2B > Source: > Published: 2026-08-09 13:02:45+00:00 Via itbrief.com.au # Firmus transforms from Bitcoin miner to $10.5B AI infrastructure company after raising $2B The Tasmanian company that once mined Bitcoin with hydropower now builds liquid-cooled AI factories for Nvidia, with Blackstone and Coatue backing its expansion across Asia-Pacific. A company that started mining Bitcoin in Tasmania five years ago just raised $2 billion at a valuation north of $10.5 billion. Firmus Technologies, which once used renewable hydropower to run crypto mining rigs, has completed one of the most dramatic corporate pivots in recent memory, repositioning itself as a builder of modular AI data centers optimized for Nvidia’s latest GPU architectures. The funding round, which closed on August 7, nearly doubled the company’s valuation from $5.5 billion in April 2026. Backers include Coatue, Nvidia itself, Blackstone, and Jane Street, a lineup that reads less like a crypto cap table and more like a who’s who of institutional finance and AI infrastructure. ## From proof-of-work to proof-of-concept Firmus was founded in 2019 with a fairly straightforward thesis: Tasmania had cheap, abundant hydropower, and Bitcoin mining was energy-hungry. The math worked. But at some point, the company’s leadership apparently decided that selling shovels during an AI gold rush beat panning for digital coins. The company now builds what it calls “AI Factories,” modular facilities that use liquid cooling to handle the thermal demands of high-density GPU clusters. These aren’t generic data centers. They’re purpose-built around Nvidia’s DSX AI Factory Reference Architecture, a design framework that Nvidia developed specifically for deploying its accelerators at scale. The pivot away from digital assets appears to be complete. There’s no mention of crypto tokens, Bitcoin mining operations, or blockchain services in the company’s current positioning. ## Project Southgate and the Asia-Pacific bet The $2 billion raise is earmarked primarily for Project Southgate, an expansion initiative targeting multiple sites across Australia with plans to push into Indonesia and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Total equity raised by Firmus over the past 12 months now exceeds $3 billion. The relationship with Nvidia extends beyond hardware procurement into cloud services and sustainability practices, with Firmus emphasizing efficient energy and water usage across its operations. The sustainability angle also connects back to Firmus’s origins. The same hydropower resources that once made Tasmania attractive for Bitcoin mining now provide a clean energy narrative for AI workloads. **Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our [Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).