Nscale, a burgeoning AI hyperscaler startup founded in 2024, has announced a significant partnership with Microsoft to enhance AI infrastructure across multiple data centers. This strategic agreement will facilitate the deployment of Nvidia AI hardware, positioning Nscale at the forefront of the rapidly evolving technology sector. The company has amassed more than $1.7 billion in backing from a laundry list of strategic partners and investors. Now, it seeks for the first time to hugely increase its operational footprint.
Naturally, given all this success, Nscale is preparing for their biggest growth spurt yet. As for the Portugal deployment, they expect to use up to 12,600 GPUs at the planned Start Campus data center in Sines, starting in Q1 of 2026. Nscale will deliver 104,000 of these GPUs to enable a hyper-scaler type data center in Texas leased by Ionic Digital. This delivery will occur over the next 12–18 months. Nscale is going coast to coast! Beginning in 2027, the company intends to ship the first 23,000 GPUs to its new Loughton campus in England and will distribute the 52,000 remaining GPUs to Microsoft’s developing AI campus in Narvik, Norway.
The collaboration with Microsoft further demonstrates Nscale’s vision to be the worldwide market-leading provider of advanced AI infrastructure solutions. The company received a very high profile endorsement from their strategic partners Aker, Nokia and most recently Nvidia. Plus, it’s been funded pretty heavily by investors such as Sandton Capital Partners, G Squared, and Point72.
Josh Payne, the founder and CEO of Nscale, echoed the importance of this agreement in a NPI press release late last week.
“This agreement confirms Nscale’s place as a partner of choice for the world’s most important technology leaders. Few companies are equipped to deliver GPU deployments at this scale, but we have the experience and have built the global pipeline to do so.” – Josh Payne
Payne further emphasized the company’s commitment to efficiency and sustainability, stating:
“The pace with which we have expanded our capacity demonstrates both our readiness and our commitment to efficiency, sustainability and providing our customers with the most advanced technology available. It’s a clear signal that Nscale is setting a new standard for how the next wave of AI infrastructure will be delivered.” – Josh Payne
Nscale is enjoying a solid growth curve and is said to be eyeing an initial public offering (IPO). They plan to release it as soon as the end of next year. This potential move indicates the company’s confidence in its business model and market position.
