Lambda Wants $4B While Firmus Scraps Its IPO — AI Cloud’s Great Money Split

Two Nvidia-backed AI cloud companies made opposite bets this week: Lambda is raising up to $4 billion in what could be its final private round before going public, while Australian data center outfit Firmus scrapped its IPO entirely to pursue a private raise instead.

Firmus blamed ‘recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions’ — though Bloomberg reported some investors thought its pricing was aggressive. It’ll now chase a roughly $3 billion private round. Lambda, meanwhile, is going the other direction, loading up ahead of a planned listing.

Add Waymo’s first-ever debt raise — a $5 billion loan — and the picture sharpens: AI’s winners are splitting into those who can still tap public markets and those retreating to private credit. The money is still flowing; it’s just getting pickier about the door it walks through.

For everyone watching the AI trade, this is the canary section of the market. When IPO windows start closing for Nvidia-backed companies, it’s worth asking what the bond market knows that the equity market doesn’t.