Nov 14 (Reuters) - Australia's Firmus announced on

Friday an equity raise of A$500 million ($324.90 million) as the

artificial intelligence company and potential IPO candidate

looks to accelerate development of Project Southgate, its AI

infrastructure initiative.

The move comes as global firms push for more investment into

infrastructure necessary to compute artificial intelligence

technologies amid growing demand for AI-related services.

Proceeds from the equity raise will be used by the company

to expand site development, infrastructure deployment, and

energy deals for AI factories, or data centres, in selected

locations across Australia, the company said in a statement.

"With demand for AI infrastructure accelerating, this

funding ensures we can meet it quickly, cost-effectively, and in

line with Australia's renewable energy future," said Co-CEO Tim

Rosenfeld.

Project Southgate is the company's initiative to develop

infrastructure, which includes data centres, for AI training and

inference. The initiative, done in collaboration with CDC Data

Centres and Nvidia ( NVDA ), is expected to reach a capacity of

up to 1.6 gigawatts through 2028.

In September, Firmus closed a A$330 million equity

placement, with a cornerstone investment by Ellerston Capital,

and participation from Nvidia ( NVDA ) in a bid to accelerate the

development of Project Southgate.

($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)