Blackstone is finalising a loan of more than AUD5bn ($3.5bn) to support the data centre expansion of Australian AI infrastructure firm Firmus Technologies, according to a report by Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.
The financing, which could be announced as soon as next week, marks another major private credit transaction linked to the rapid build-out of data centres required to support artificial intelligence workloads. Highbury Partnership is reportedly advising on the debt financing.
Investment in data centre infrastructure to support AI development is expected to exceed $3tn globally, with a significant proportion funded through debt markets.
Firmus last year agreed to develop up to 1.6 gigawatts of data centre capacity across Australia by 2028, powered by chips from Nvidia. The company recently announced a new investor, following AUD830m raised across two earlier funding rounds. The Australian Financial Review first reported Blackstone’s involvement.
