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Freedom251 › Blog › AI infrastructure

Firmus’s Tasmania Data-Centre Topping-Out: What’s Confirmed and What Isn’t

By Freedom251 Team · · 4 min read

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The specific Firmus building and date behind the reported Tasmania topping-out milestone are not confirmed by the available reliable sources. Firmus has described its Project Southgate campus in Launceston as under construction, but that does not verify that a building there has topped out. The company’s other Tasmanian proposals are at different stages and should not be treated as the same project.

Has Firmus topped out a data-centre building in Tasmania?

The milestone remains unverified: the building and date have not been established by a reliable report or direct Firmus construction update. Firmus’s July 2025 account described Project Southgate as under construction, which confirms a reported construction status at that time, not a topping-out event. Its later statement that the Tasmania campus was progressing toward completion in late 2026 is a company-reported plan, not proof of completion or of a particular building reaching its highest structural point.

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For now, the headline claim should be read as unresolved rather than as a confirmed construction milestone. Southgate is the Firmus project most clearly described as under construction in the available sources, but a specific building, event date and independent confirmation are missing.

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How Firmus’s three Tasmania projects differ

Project Location and announced scope Status and timing Source and qualification
Project Southgate Launceston; 90 MW planned for Stage 1 by 2026, including 44 MW in Stage 1a; a further 300 MW planned in Stage 2, subject to final approvals. Firmus described the modular AI Factory campus as under construction in July 2025. The government announcement reproduced in that post gave the planned capacity and timing; these are not verified completed or operational capacity. Firmus, July 2025, reproducing a Tasmanian Government announcement.
Wesley Vale Approximately 3 hectares; a proposed $2.1 billion investment. Latrobe Council referred the proposal to the Minister without a completed major-project proposal. Firmus was asked to submit one by 15 December 2026. Eligibility and any major-project declaration remain undecided. Tasmanian State Planning Office page, accessed 7 October 2026.
Bell Bay 288 MW proposed project. George Town Council approved the proposal on 25 August 2026, subject to conditions. Firmus said its next steps were design finalisation, procurement and construction planning; approval is not evidence construction has started or that a building has topped out. ABC News, 25 August 2026.

The figures describe distinct projects, scopes and stages. They cannot be added together to represent operational capacity, and council approval, planning referral and construction are not interchangeable milestones.

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What Southgate’s announced scale means—and does not mean

The 2025 announcement described a staged plan: 44 MW in Stage 1a within a 90 MW Stage 1 target by 2026, followed by a further 300 MW in Stage 2 if final approvals are obtained. It also announced up to $2.1 billion of investment for Stage 1a over the following 12 months. These are announced targets and investment plans, not evidence that the capacity has been built or is operating.

Firmus later said its Tasmania campus was progressing toward completion in late 2026 and planned to host approximately 36,800 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. That is a company-reported campus plan; it does not identify a topped-out building or establish that the GPUs are installed and running. The capacity and GPU figures refer to different measures and should not be treated as interchangeable.

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Firmus described Southgate as modular, designed in Australia and 100% liquid-cooled. The company also claimed the design could use up to 60% less energy and cost up to half as much to construct as traditional data centres. Those are company claims about design and comparison, not independently verified measurements of this facility’s energy use or construction cost.

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Power, water and Tasmania’s draft expectations

Project-specific power and water consumption figures have not been established in the available reporting. ABC documented community concerns about both issues around the proposed Bell Bay project, but those concerns do not supply measured consumption for Southgate or another Firmus facility. Without disclosed project-level figures and a clear measurement basis, a precise use estimate would be speculative.

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On 7 September 2026, the Tasmanian Government published draft expectations for data centres and AI infrastructure. The draft said such projects would receive no automatic approval or special treatment, and set out expectations concerning community engagement, support for the energy system, responsible water use and compliance with approval processes. Consultation was scheduled to close on 12 October 2026. Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Felix Ellis said companies were expected to “maximise benefits for Tasmania, engage genuinely with communities, support our energy system, use water responsibly and comply with our approval processes.” The draft expectations describe the government’s proposed framework; they are not a project-specific approval or consumption assessment.

Minister for Energy and Renewables Nick Duigan said data centres and AI infrastructure “can be heavy power users” and that the government was focused on frameworks to support demand in a way that contributes positively to Tasmania’s energy system. That policy concern makes reliable project-specific disclosure important, but it does not establish how much power a particular Firmus facility will use.

What would confirm the topping-out claim?

A reliable confirmation would identify the building, give the date of the milestone and come from Firmus or a credible contemporaneous report. A general statement that a campus is under construction or approaching a planned completion date is not enough to establish which structure reached topping out. Until those details are available, the milestone should not be attributed to Southgate, Wesley Vale or Bell Bay as a confirmed fact.

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AI infrastructureData CentresFirmusProject SouthgateTasmania

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