Norwegian energy conglomerate Aker ASA led the financing round along with several investors, including Point72, Nvidia, and Nokia Oyj, Nscale said in a statement on Thursday. Aker and Nscale announced plans in July to construct a data center in Norway with OpenAI as an anchor customer.
Aker said it would invest $285 million in cash and land where the data center will be built, giving the firm a 9.3% stake.
At that price, the investment round would give Nscale a valuation of around $3.1 billion. The companies declined to comment on valuation.
Formed in 2024, Nscale is among a crop of “neoclouds” – businesses that rent out access to leading AI chips. It competes with companies like Coreweave and Nebius. Their sudden rise – and the flush of capital they’re receiving – reveals the immense demand for computing resources. Tech giants, energy companies and governments are rushing to shore up the capacity to train and operate AI models and services, despite uncertainty about long-term profits.
Nscale, which spun out of a cryptocurrency mining operation, is now at the center of the UK’s plans to build AI facilities across the country. OpenAI picked Nscale to develop its inaugural Stargate site in the UK, although the companies didn’t disclose financial terms. It also partnered with Microsoft to build the UK’s largest AI supercomputer in Loughton, Essex.
“Nscale’s funding round is significant, but it is likely only to be sufficient to purchase the 23,040 GB300 chips announced for its Loughton campus,” said Ed Galvin, founder of data center research firm DC Byte.
Nscale needs about 320 clusters of graphics processing units at a cost of about $1.1 billion to meet its deployment targets for the first quarter of 2027, Galvin said.
The startup would need an additional £500 million ($673 million) to develop the cooling and power infrastructure needed to support the high-performance computers, Galvin added.
Nscale inherited some sites from its crypto work, but it has yet to build a data center devoted to supporting AI services. An Nscale spokesperson said the company has recruited senior executives with decades of experience in data centers and high-performance computing.
Microsoft Corporation said last week that it will pay $6.2 billion for computing power from a site in Norway developed by Nscale and Aker.
Controlled by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, Aker owns a variety of technology assets including industrial AI firm Cognite. Its biggest holding is Norway’s second biggest oil and gas company, Aker BP.
Nscale said its new funding round includes participation from Blue Owl Capital, Dell Technologies, and Fidelity Management and Research Company. Nscale didn’t specify if the financing arrived as debt or equity.
Last week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said his company would invest £500 million ($673 million) into Nscale, praising the startup as a key partner. An Nscale spokesperson said Nvidia’s investment plans don’t “relate solely” to Nscale’s new round.
