Nscale, a UK-based hyperscaler created for AI workloads, has raised $1.1 billion in a Series B funding round, marking the largest funding round of its kind in both UK and European history. This oversubscribed financing was led by the Norwegian industrial investment company Aker ASA, and saw strong continued backing from existing investors, including Sandton Capital. The round also drew significant new investment from a notable group of strategic and financial partners, including Blue Owl Managed Funds, Dell, Fidelity Management & Research Company, G Squared, Nokia, NVIDIA, Point72, and T.Capital, underscoring the high-level industry confidence in Nscale’s vision.
The company operates a globally distributed, AI-native infrastructure platform designed to meet the surging worldwide demand for high-performance Graphics Processing Units among enterprises. These GPUs are the essential computational engines driving the current wave of artificial intelligence. Nscale’s platform provides a fully vertically integrated suite of services, encompassing compute, networking, storage, managed software, and various AI services, all delivered through a network of Nscale-owned and co-located data centers.
A core pillar of Nscale’s strategy is its focus on renewable energy and strategic location. The company is anchored in Europe, with its data centers strategically situated to access some of the world’s most cost-effective renewable energy sources, especially low-cost hydropower in the Nordic region. This advantage allows Nscale to pass substantial operational cost savings directly to its customers while also ensuring strict adherence to stringent regulatory requirements. Its next-generation facilities range from large-scale hubs in Norway to smaller metropolitan clusters tailored for latency-sensitive applications, all of which are designed for rapid, lower-cost deployment compared to current industry standards.
The funding will be used to accelerate Nscale’s ambitious deployment of large-scale AI infrastructure across three major regions: Europe, North America, and the Middle East. A key priority will be the swift construction of its proprietary “AI factory” data centers for flagship initiatives, notably the previously announced Stargate UK and Stargate Norway projects.
The funding will also accelerate the expansion of its vertically integrated AI cloud platform. To support this growth, the capital will be used to rapidly expand Nscale’s engineering and operations teams, thereby strengthening the company’s ability to deliver its high-demand infrastructure to enterprise and government clients worldwide.
Nscale’s momentum is also driven by a seasoned leadership team with an extensive track record, having collectively built over fifty data centers, developed leading supercomputing platforms, managed complex, large-scale technology contracts, and successfully scaled multi-billion-dollar infrastructure businesses. This deep expertise, combined with one of the world’s largest pipelines of GPU supply, positions Nscale uniquely to deliver at a global scale.
In parallel with the development of its physical infrastructure, the company is intensifying product innovation across its AI software stack. This includes the planned launch of a fine-tuning service, advanced inference APIs, a dedicated AI Studio, robust orchestration tools, and various enhancements to its private cloud offerings.
The record-setting fundraising follows a series of major strategic announcements that have highlighted Nscale’s increasing influence in the global AI landscape. These include the recent commitment with Microsoft to develop the UK’s largest AI supercomputer at Nscale’s AI Campus in Loughton. Furthermore, Nscale, in collaboration with OpenAI and NVIDIA, is establishing Stargate UK, an overarching infrastructure platform dedicated to deploying OpenAI’s technology for sovereign workloads in the United Kingdom.
On the European front, the company launched Stargate Norway in partnership with Aker ASA and OpenAI, a landmark initiative aimed at deploying 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026. This joint venture further deepened its commitment with a multi-billion-dollar agreement with Microsoft to deliver large-scale AI infrastructure in Narvik, Norway. Looking forward, Nscale is also set to expand its existing relationship with Dell Technologies, leveraging Dell’s AI infrastructure to support critical sovereign AI efforts across Europe further.
Support: Goldman Sachs acted as the exclusive placement agent for Nscale in connection with this capital raise.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are building the AI-native Infrastructure platform of tomorrow. AI is reshaping industries, economies, and national strategies – but it cannot happen without the physical backbone: the data centres, the GPUs and the software to orchestrate them. We are building a vertically integrated, AI-engineered foundation designed to power the next generation of technological change, enabling industries and innovators across the globe to achieve what today feels impossible.”
“We are creating one of the largest global platforms of its kind – purpose-built to meet surging demand and unlock breakthroughs at unprecedented scale. This allows Nscale to provide our customers access to scarce, and highly sought after, compute capacity and rapidly accelerate the build-out of secure, compliant and energy-efficient AI infrastructure.”
“Europe needs a Hyperscaler, and Nscale is rising to the challenge.”
Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale
“AI is reshaping the global economy and redefining the value of renewable energy. With Nscale, we’re backing infrastructure that’s sovereign, scalable and purpose-built to accelerate this transformation. Nscale’s full-stack, GPU-first model gives it a real edge in execution. The scale and quality of this Series B round are a testament to Nscale’s vision and momentum – and to the strength of our collaboration. Through both our Series B investment and joint venture, we’re making a significant, long-term commitment to building industrial relevance in the age of AI.”
Øyvind Eriksen, President & CEO, Aker ASA
“Over just a few months, Nscale has moved with focus and velocity – turning ambitious plans into production capacity and becoming meaningfully relevant, fast. The team is building massive-scale, sovereign infrastructure that enterprises and nations can actually consume – reliable, efficient, and close to their data. We’re excited to support Josh and the Nscale team as they scale with discipline, equip builders with infrastructure, and establish a strategic foundation for national AI leadership.”
Larry Aschebrook, Founder & Managing Partner, G Squared
“Demand for the build-out of secure, scalable AI infrastructure in Europe and across the world continues to accelerate. Nokia is participating in Nscale’s investment round and announcing a partnership with Nscale to combine our expertise in IP and optical networking with their leading infrastructure platform, enabling the innovation needed for the future of AI infrastructure.”
Justin Hotard, President and CEO, Nokia
“The future of AI hinges on empowering every nation to innovate securely, independently and on its own terms. We help transform sovereign ambition into global impact by delivering the foundational infrastructure and services needed to realize this vision. Through Dell’s strategic investment and the power of our AI solutions, Nscale is building tailored platforms that drive meaningful progress for citizens and industries worldwide.”
Adrian McDonald, President, EMEA, Dell Technologies
“The success of UK-founded companies like Nscale shows how our country can be at the cutting edge of AI. By attracting global expertise and investment, it is building the essential infrastructure for the UK to compete internationally, drive growth, and create jobs across the country.”
UK AI Minister, Kanishka Narayan
