AI data center company Nscale files for US IPO, Nvidia holds over 5% stake

London data center operator Nscale has formally filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to raise up to $3 billion in New York to expand its infrastructure supporting the demand for AI computing power.

Nscale was spun off from a cryptocurrency mining business at the start of 2024 and has quickly risen to become a leading player in the AI infrastructure sector.

The prospectus shows that as of August 2026, Nscale owns and controls over 10 gigawatts of power capacity in its data centers, with total contract value of approximately $103 billion. The company’s partners include Nvidia and Microsoft.

The latest financial data shows the company’s revenue is rising rapidly, but losses are also widening.

In the six months ended June 30, Nscale generated revenue of $140.6 million with a net loss of $1.02 billion; in the same period the previous year, revenue was only $10.4 million with a net loss of $368.9 million. The high growth is accompanied by hefty capital investments, highlighting the typical features of the AI infrastructure space and forming the core topics for investors evaluating this IPO.

Since the start of this year, the AI infrastructure theme has fueled a steady recovery in global IPO issuance. According to Bloomberg, total IPO fundraising this year has reached $161.4 billion, the highest since 2021. If Nscale completes its listing, it will become another milestone example in this wave.

Nscale was spun off from cryptocurrency mining operations in early 2024 and immediately transformed into a “neocloud” operator, leasing compute resources to AI development companies. In just over a year, it has become one of the most prominent emerging forces in the AI data center sector.

In March this year, Nscale completed a Series C funding round led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries, with Nvidia and Nokia participating. The company was valued at approximately $14.6 billion.

The prospectus indicates that Aker, Sandton Capital Partners, and a trust associated with Payne all hold more than 5% ownership in the company.

Nscale's board of directors is also noteworthy; former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg and former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg are among the members.

Nscale's major facilities are positioned as "hyperscale AI hubs," located in Norway, Portugal, Texas, and West Virginia, each with over 200 megawatts of installed power capacity.

Among these, the flagship Monarch Compute Campus in West Virginia is the largest. The prospectus notes that the campus covers around 2,250 acres and is expected to reach a total power capacity of 2 gigawatts upon launching in the first half of 2028, with plans to expand to about 8 gigawatts by 2031.

In August this year, AI startup Anthropic announced it had agreed to spend $45 billion leasing AI cloud computing resources at the Monarch campus.

In Northern Europe, Nscale agreed in April this year to add more than 30,000 Nvidia chips to Microsoft’s existing lease at its Narvik, Norway facility.

Nvidia plays a particularly key role in this IPO, being both a shareholder and supplier, as well as a potential major creditor.

The prospectus reveals that Nscale issued warrants to Nvidia in its Series B round, making Nvidia a shareholder holding over 5%, though the shares are non-voting.

In addition, on September 15, Nscale signed a subscription agreement to issue $2.1 billion in unsecured convertible notes to investors, and separately issue $1 billion in unsecured convertible notes or non-voting shares to Nvidia, with the Nvidia portion to be settled by November 16.

However, in the risk factors section of the prospectus, the company also acknowledges its GPU supply is highly dependent on Nvidia, and this close partnership poses a concentration risk.

Beyond hardware expansion, Nscale is seeking to extend into software layers to improve client efficiency in utilizing AI compute resources.

In July this year, Nscale announced the $1.65 billion acquisition of San Francisco-based software startup Anyscale, aiming to help clients use AI computing resources more efficiently.

This acquisition marks a strategic shift from being solely an infrastructure provider to a comprehensive AI compute service provider.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley are acting as lead underwriters for this IPO, with 19 additional banks participating. Nscale’s shares are expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NSCL.