Two years ago, few had heard of Nscale — a London-based startup that emerged quietly from the shadows of crypto infrastructure. Fast forward to today, the company is making headlines across the globe, raising hundreds of millions in capital and forging partnerships with some of the world’s biggest tech giants, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
Founded as a spinout from Arkon Energy, Nscale initially focused on powering crypto mining. But the rise of generative AI — sparked by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 — changed everything. Recognizing Europe’s lack of large-scale AI infrastructure, Nscale pivoted to building hyperscale data centers optimized for AI workloads.
In December, the company raised $155 million in Series A funding, one of the largest in U.K. and European history. Soon after, Nvidia invested $683 million in equity, cementing Nscale as a key partner in expanding AI infrastructure in the U.K. and across Europe.
This year, Nscale signed a $6.2 billion, five-year agreement with Microsoft and Aker to build hyperscale AI infrastructure in Norway. At the same time, OpenAI revealed plans to deploy a Stargate-branded AI data center in collaboration with Nscale, aiming to house up to 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by 2027.
Microsoft also announced plans to co-build the U.K.’s largest supercomputer with Nscale, starting with 23,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs at a new site in Essex, scalable to 90 megawatts of AI capacity.
Europe has been pushing the idea of “sovereign AI,” ensuring that data and workloads remain on European soil. Nscale is quickly becoming the centerpiece of this strategy, bridging U.S. partnerships with local ambitions.
Josh Payne, Nscale’s CEO and former founder of Arkon, emphasized that Europe faces two big challenges: insufficient compute power and a fragmented market. “What the continent needs is large AI infrastructure projects deploying compute at scale,” Payne said, highlighting the potential for productivity and economic growth.
Building AI data centers is capital intensive. Competitors like CoreWeave have raised billions in debt to scale operations, and Nscale is expected to follow a similar path as it expands its GPU pipeline to 350,000 units by 2027.
Still, with its unique vertically integrated model — combining GPUs, power, and software into an end-to-end AI infrastructure service — Nscale is positioning itself as a national champion for Europe’s AI future, as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described.
As Europe doubles down on its AI ambitions, Nscale’s rapid rise signals a shift in the global AI infrastructure race — and a bet that the next frontier of artificial intelligence will be built on European soil.
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