Author：Bloomberg
Good morning, it’s Angus in Sydney. Firmus Technologies has been valued at $5.5 billion in its latest fundraising round, providing a floor for one of Australia’s most keenly anticipated potential IPOs. The Australian government is intensifying efforts to ease fuel supply concerns as President Trump escalates threats against Iran. And the Artemis II astronauts have made history — and taken some fabulous photographs. — Angus Whitley, Global Business reporter
What’s happening now
Firmus Technologies, the data center builder expected to list in Sydney this year, raised $505 million in an investment round led by Coatue Management LLC, part of a global push to finance artificial intelligence infrastructure. The deal values the startup at $5.5 billion, Firmus said. Nvidia, the top maker of AI accelerator chips, participated in the round.
Westpac Chief Executive Officer Anthony Miller warned the conflict in the Middle East has raised the risk of a recession in Australia, saying that it was unclear how long supply chain disruptions from the Iran war could take to work their way through the economy. Miller said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that “circumstances have changed so much that a recession is a chance.”
Australia’s government said it has received guarantees from major fuel exporting nations in Asia that supplies will proceed as normal despite the disruptions caused by the war in Iran. Assistant Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky News he had received pledges from Japan, South Korea and Singapore that shipments would continue.
Australia is turning to the US and Mexico for fuel supplies to offset disruptions from its traditional Asian partners, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said, as the nation works to ease shortages sparked by the war in Iran.
What happened overnight
Oil climbed and stocks whipsawed after President Donald Trump signaled that an escalation of strikes on Iran could come as soon as Tuesday, overshadowing hopes for a ceasefire. Fears that imminent military action could derail tentative progress toward restoring energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz drove US crude above $112. Equities held on to small gains. Bonds and the dollar barely budged.
President Trump insisted that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz be part of any deal and escalated threats to obliterate key Iranian infrastructure if his terms aren’t met before a Tuesday deadline. He laid bare the consequences Iran would face if it doesn’t reach a deal by his Tuesday 8 p.m. cut-off, saying the US military could destroy “every bridge in Iran by 12 o’clock tomorrow night.”
Rivals OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Google have begun working together to try to clamp down on Chinese competitors extracting results from cutting-edge US artificial intelligence models to gain an edge in the global AI race. The rare collaboration underscores the severity of a concern that some users are creating imitation versions of their products that could undercut them on price.
A NASA crew of four astronauts have traveled farther in space than anyone in history as the group’s spacecraft hurtles toward the moon for a historic flyby. Shortly before 2 p.m. New York time Monday, the Artemis II Orion capsule surpassed the distance the Apollo 13 crew traveled in 1970 of 400,170 kilometers from Earth, NASA said.
What to watch
• 11:30 a.m. Australian household spending for February
One more thing...
Reckless riding is derailing Sydney’s e-bike boom. Serious injuries involving e-bikes have spiked in the past two years, with authorities concerned about high-powered models that are closer to motorbikes than bicycles. Police have been given the power to seize and crush illegal e-bikes.
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