Nscale Microsoft AI Deal Brings 200,000 Nvidia GPUs to Power Next-Gen Data Centers

AI hyperscaler startup Nscale just made one of the biggest infrastructure moves of 2025.
The company announced a major partnership with Microsoft to deploy 200,000 Nvidia GB300 GPUs across multiple data centers in the U.S. and Europe — marking a massive leap in the global AI hardware race.

The Nscale Microsoft AI deal includes three data centers in Europe and one in the U.S., positioning the startup as a serious contender in the hyperscale cloud infrastructure space.

A Global AI Infrastructure Push

Under the new agreement, roughly half of the GPUs — about 104,000 units — will be deployed at a Texas data center leased by Ionic Digital over the next 12 to 18 months.

Nscale also plans to expand its Texas footprint to 1.2 gigawatts, signaling a long-term commitment to U.S.-based AI infrastructure growth.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the company will deploy 12,600 GPUs to the Start Campus data center in Sines, Portugal, beginning in early 2026. The rest will head to facilities in the U.K. and Norway, as part of Nscale’s joint venture with Aker, one of its major investors.

Key Deployment Sites

Texas, U.S. – 104,000 GPUs over 18 months
Sines, Portugal – 12,600 GPUs by Q1 2026
Loughton, England – 23,000 GPUs by 2027
Narvik, Norway – 52,000 GPUs for Microsoft’s AI campus

That adds up to a staggering 200,000 Nvidia GPUs, solidifying this as one of the largest single AI infrastructure deals announced in 2025.

“A Partner of Choice for the World’s Tech Leaders”

“This agreement confirms Nscale’s place as a partner of choice for the world’s most important technology leaders,” said Josh Payne, Founder and CEO of Nscale.

“Few companies are equipped to deliver GPU deployments at this scale, but we’ve built the global pipeline to do so,” he added.

It’s a bold claim for a company founded only in 2024 — but Nscale has already raised over $1.7 billion from investors including Aker, Nokia, Nvidia, Sandton Capital Partners, G Squared, and Point72.

Payne also hinted at an IPO as early as late next year, according to the Financial Times.

Competing in the GPU Gold Rush

The Nscale Microsoft AI deal arrives amid a wave of massive GPU investments.
Just last week, OpenAI announced a deal to purchase six gigawatts’ worth of chips from AMD. Earlier, Nvidia committed up to $100 billion in a phased investment into OpenAI, in exchange for 10 gigawatts’ worth of GPU supply.

These moves underscore the unprecedented demand for AI hardware, as companies race to build the computational backbone for large-scale AI models.

Setting a New Standard for AI Infrastructure

“The pace with which we’ve expanded our capacity demonstrates both our readiness and our commitment to efficiency, sustainability, and providing customers with the most advanced technology available,” Payne said in Nscale’s announcement.

“It’s a clear signal that Nscale is setting a new standard for how the next wave of AI infrastructure will be delivered.”

With Microsoft as a strategic partner and Nvidia’s latest GPUs powering its data centers, Nscale is emerging as a key player in the next phase of the AI cloud revolution.