Rampart Talks: Oliver Curtis

Hold onto your seats, because today I'm bringing you the latest episode of Rampart Talks and my guest is the co-chief executive of Firmus Technologies, Oliver Curtis.

Firmus is likely mere weeks away from floating on the Australian Securities Exchange. While its emergence as an operator of "AI factories" in Singapore and Australia has been a slow burn, Firmus has only recently exploded into the public consciousness.

Like many players in the AI infrastructure space, the trajectory of Firmus's growth is mind-boggling. In financial 2025, its revenue was less than US$50 million. Yet in the last four months, Firmus has raised equity at a $6 billion valuation and secured $14 billion of debt financing from US alternatives giant Blackstone (another equity raising ahead of Firmus' planned ASX IPO – this time at an even higher valuation – is reportedly imminent). It plans to deploy more than $70 billion of capital expenditure in the three years to 2028, which, given the implied customer revenue streams to support that program, could vault it straight into the ASX 20.

As if that isn't dramatic enough, the Firmus IPO has an added layer of mystique in the form of Curtis himself, who rose to infamy over insider trading charges he was convicted of in 2016. Another guarantor of his prominence is his marriage to celebrity businesswoman Roxy Jacenko.

Before I flew to Singapore last week, I'd never met Curtis, but felt safe in the presupposition that he was Riverview's answer to Patrick Bateman. The truth, it turns out, is more complex than his great hair and great teeth. Undoubtedly, he is a man on the hard sell, but spending the better part of two days with Curtis dispelled any notion that he lacks substance.

In this interview, we explore the distinction between traditional data centres and the "neocloud" business model; Firmus's bold claims that its operating economics are 50 per cent better than its competitors; whether the ASX is deep enough to fund its $70 billion capex program; and what it means if the US hyperscalers manage to break Nvidia's GPU monopoly.

Until sitting down with me, Curtis has never spoken publicly about his crimes. He was dauntless enough to traverse the full gamut of uncomfortable subjects: from his "immense" contrition; to his feelings about co-conspirator turned Crown witness against him, John Hartman; to the repeated knockbacks Firmus faced as a result of his past; even his inability to enter the United States.

I asked Curtis whether redemption drives him:

"Absolutely it does, absolutely it does… The lessons of the past are something that I want to ensure I'm open about and acknowledge and own, and I think that acknowledging and owning your mistakes of the past, you naturally should be able to get a second chance. Redemption is not about a f--- you situation to turn around and say f--- you to everybody. It's more so about turning around and… making sure you can set an example for your children, that you can continue to build a successful business, that you can be taken seriously to deliver on what is a fantastic opportunity, right? Redemption is an absolutely essential part of chapter two, because we're probably only at chapter two as far as I'm concerned."

Only Rampart's paid subscribers can watch the full 70 minute version of this interview or listen via their preferred podcast player (if you haven't already activated this integration with your podcast app, you can do so below). For members of Rampart's free list, an 11 minute cut is available on YouTube, Spotify and all the major podcast players.

I hope you enjoy this episode and share it with others.

The next episode of Rampart Talks will be released in the second half of April.

Previous episodes: James Packer, Gillon McLachlan, Brad Banducci, Jayne Hrdlicka, Nick Molnar, Matt Comyn