Nvidia-backed Nscale raises $2B at $14.6B valuation to expand global AI data centers

The race to build the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence is heating up, and one young company just secured another massive vote of confidence. AI data center startup Nscale announced Monday that it has raised $2 billion in new funding, valuing the company at $14.6 billion, as investors continue pouring capital into the systems that run modern AI.

The Series C round included Nvidia and was led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries. The investor list reads like a who’s who of global finance and enterprise technology, with Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, and Point72 joining the round.

“This new raise will further accelerate Nscale’s global development of vertically integrated AI infrastructure — from GPU compute and networking to data services and orchestration software — across Europe, North America, and Asia,” Nscale said in a statement on Monday

Nscale is strengthening its leadership bench along with its balance sheet. Three high-profile figures are joining the company’s board: former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, former UK deputy prime minister and Meta executive Nick Clegg, and former Yahoo president Susan Decker.

Nscale Lands $2B to Build the Backbone of AI, Valued at $14.6B

Founded in 2024, the UK-based company has quickly positioned itself as a builder of large-scale AI infrastructure. Nscale develops data centers and provides cloud computing capacity aimed at companies running advanced machine learning workloads.

The fresh funding follows a string of major capital raises over the past year. In February, the company announced a $1.4 billion delayed-draw term loan, following a $1.1 billion Series B round last September. The latest round includes a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE completed in October.

TechStartups reported on Nscale’s Series B funding in the summer of last year, when the AI infrastructure startup raised $1.1 billion to build what it described as Europe’s largest AI data centers.

The latest round includes a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE completed in October.

The new capital will accelerate Nscale’s effort to build vertically integrated AI infrastructure across Europe, North America, and Asia, spanning GPU compute systems, networking, data services, and orchestration software.

The scale of the opportunity is hard to miss. Demand for AI computing continues to surge as companies train and deploy increasingly large models that require enormous amounts of processing power.

Josh Payne, Nscale’s CEO and founder, described the moment in stark terms.

“The AI boom is “leading to the largest infrastructure buildout in human history,” said Josh Payne, CEO and founder of UK-based Nscale, echoing past comments from Jensen Huang, CEO at Nvidia, which invested in the round. “We are building this foundation that the market sits on, the engine of superintelligence.”

The company has already begun building a global footprint. Nscale operates data centers across the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway, Portugal, and Iceland, regions chosen for access to energy, connectivity, and cooler climates that help manage the heat generated by massive computing clusters.

Big Tech partnerships are helping accelerate that growth. In October, Nscale announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft, a deal valued at $14 billion, according to earlier reporting from the Financial Times and confirmation by CNBC.

Earlier in the year, Nscale partnered with OpenAI on a Stargate-branded AI data center project in Norway, adding another major name to its customer list.

The startup has already begun exploring its next milestone. Nscale confirmed to CNBC last October that it is considering an initial public offering, a move that would place it among a new generation of infrastructure companies built around the demands of artificial intelligence.

Investor enthusiasm for the sector shows little sign of slowing. From Nvidia-backed cloud providers to hyperscale data center builders, capital continues to flood into companies building the physical backbone of AI.

Nscale’s latest funding round signals that investors believe the infrastructure boom is still in its early stages. The models grabbing headlines may capture public attention, yet the facilities running those models are quickly becoming one of the most valuable layers of the AI economy.