Nscale, a London-based artificial intelligence infrastructure company, has secured US$1.1 billion in a Series B funding round, marking the largest financing of its kind in both United Kingdom and European history. The investment will fuel a major international expansion of the company’s specialized data centers, designed to power the next wave of AI development across Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The record-breaking round signals intense investor confidence in the race to build the foundational, high-performance computing backbone required by the rapidly advancing AI industry.
Founded in 2023, Nscale is moving to meet the global surge in demand for graphics processing units (GPUs), the specialized chips essential for training and running complex AI models. The company’s strategy involves constructing and operating a network of “AI factories”—data centers built specifically for the entire lifecycle of AI applications, from model training to large-scale deployment. This funding, led by Norwegian industrial investment firm Aker ASA, brings together a powerful coalition of technology giants and financial institutions, including NVIDIA, Dell, Nokia, and Fidelity Management & Research Company, to accelerate the rollout of this critical infrastructure. Nscale plans to use the capital to scale its operations, expand its engineering teams, and expedite the delivery of its AI cloud platform to enterprise and government clients worldwide.
A New Breed of Data Center
The core of Nscale’s strategy is the AI factory, a concept that redefines the traditional data center. Unlike general-purpose facilities that are often retrofitted to handle AI tasks, an AI factory is a purpose-built computing infrastructure designed from the ground up to manage the intensive demands of AI workloads. This involves optimizing everything from power and cooling systems, which are significantly more demanding for AI, to the networking fabric that connects thousands of GPUs. The goal is to create an efficient, industrial-scale engine for producing intelligence, transforming raw data into valuable insights, predictions, and generative content.
Nscale’s approach is vertically integrated, meaning it controls the entire technology stack, from the physical data center and energy sources to the managed software and AI services offered to clients. The company says this model gives it an edge in execution and allows it to deliver secure, compliant, and energy-efficient AI infrastructure. A key part of this strategy is locating its facilities in regions with abundant and low-cost renewable energy, passing those cost savings to customers and addressing the sustainability concerns associated with the immense power consumption of AI computing.
The Strategic Importance of Renewable Energy
The company’s major projects in Norway exemplify its focus on sustainable energy. The data centers in Glomfjord and Narvik are situated to take advantage of the country’s vast hydroelectric power resources. This provides a consistent and cost-effective source of clean energy, which is critical for operating tens of thousands of power-hungry GPUs around the clock. Aker ASA’s lead investment underscores this connection, with its CEO Øyvind Eriksen stating that “AI is reshaping the global economy and redefining the value of renewable energy.” This synergy between advanced computing and green energy is central to Nscale’s plan to build a resilient and economically viable platform for the future of AI.
Powering National AI Ambitions
A significant driver of Nscale’s expansion is the growing global demand for “sovereign AI.” This refers to a nation’s ability to develop and control its own AI capabilities using domestic infrastructure, data, and talent. By building powerful AI data centers within a country’s borders, governments and critical industries can ensure that sensitive data remains secure and subject to national laws, reducing reliance on foreign technology providers. This is particularly important for applications in healthcare, finance, and national security.
Stargate Projects in the UK and Norway
Nscale is actively building the infrastructure for sovereign AI through two major initiatives: Stargate UK and Stargate Norway. In the United Kingdom, Nscale has partnered with Microsoft, OpenAI, and NVIDIA to build the nation’s largest AI supercomputer at a new campus in Loughton. A parallel initiative, Stargate UK, will establish a platform specifically for deploying OpenAI’s technology for British workloads, with plans to scale up to 31,000 GPUs. This project is a key component of the UK’s national AI strategy and is expected to create jobs and drive economic growth.
In Norway, Nscale has formed a joint venture with Aker ASA and OpenAI for its Stargate Norway project. This ambitious plan aims to deploy 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026, creating one of Europe’s most powerful AI hyperscale facilities. The Norwegian joint venture has also secured a multi-billion-dollar agreement to provide AI infrastructure for Microsoft in Narvik, further solidifying the country’s role as a hub for green-powered computing.
An Alliance of Technology and Capital
The US$1.1 billion funding round is notable not just for its size but also for the strategic composition of its investors. The participation of cornerstone technology companies like NVIDIA, Dell, and Nokia provides Nscale with more than just capital; it creates a deep-seated partnership that integrates hardware, networking, and systems expertise directly into its platform. This coalition ensures Nscale has access to a pipeline of the most advanced GPUs and networking equipment, which are currently scarce and highly sought-after resources in the global market.
Integrating Expertise from Industry Leaders
NVIDIA, the dominant producer of AI chips, is a crucial partner, supplying the advanced GPUs that are the engines of Nscale’s AI factories. Dell Technologies is collaborating with Nscale to provide foundational AI infrastructure, supporting the build-out of sovereign AI initiatives across Europe. Adrian McDonald, President for EMEA at Dell, emphasized this role, stating the goal is to empower every nation to “innovate securely, independently and on its own terms.” Meanwhile, Nokia is contributing its expertise in high-performance IP and optical networking, a critical component for connecting massive clusters of GPUs to work in concert on complex AI tasks. This integrated ecosystem of partners allows Nscale to build a robust and comprehensive platform tailored for the most demanding AI challenges.
Building the Future of AI Infrastructure
With its record-setting funding and strategic alliances, Nscale is positioned as a central player in the construction of the physical backbone for the AI era. CEO Josh Payne articulates a vision of building “the AI-native Infrastructure platform of tomorrow,” emphasizing that AI’s potential cannot be realized without the data centers, GPUs, and software to orchestrate them. The fresh capital will directly support the expansion of Nscale’s engineering and operations teams, enabling the company to accelerate the deployment of its AI factories and enhance service for a growing list of global customers.
The company is developing its own software products on top of its hardware infrastructure, including fine-tuning services, inference APIs, and an AI Studio. This full-stack approach aims to provide a complete ecosystem for developers and enterprises. As noted by Larry Aschebrook, Founder of investor G Squared, Nscale has “moved with focus and velocity,” turning ambitious plans into production capacity quickly. By building massive-scale, sovereign infrastructure, Nscale is not just addressing a market need but is also establishing a strategic foundation for national AI leadership in the United Kingdom and beyond.