Mega deal ahead of IPO: How Nscale is preparing to go public

​British company Nscale is preparing for an IPO amid talks over a multibillion-dollar deal with Anthropic. The company, which grew out of a Bitcoin mining business, has quickly become a notable player in the AI infrastructure market. But behind its rapid growth are problems that could disrupt its plans.

Billions for AI infrastructure development

Nscale is in talks with Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI model, to provide computing capacity in a deal worth approximately $45 billion. According to Bloomberg sources, an agreement could be reached in the coming days, although no final decision has been made.

View post on X Loading...

The tweet was deleted by the author.

But we saved everything 🙂.

The deal involves the construction of a second major data center at the Monarch campus in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The facility will have a capacity of 460 megawatts and is expected to use Nvidia's latest Vera Rubin AI chips.

This is not the first joint project between the companies. According to Nscale's official filings, Anthropic has already signed agreements to use its infrastructure worth approximately $44.6 billion. If the two sides reach a new deal, the combined value of their agreements could approach $90 billion.

In addition, Anthropic has secured the right of first refusal on a third Monarch data center, which is also planned for the site. The campus could eventually reach a total capacity of more than 8 gigawatts.

How a Bitcoin mining company conquered the AI market

Just a few years ago, few people had heard of Nscale. The company was established in 2024 from a Bitcoin mining business but quickly shifted its focus to building infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Today, Nscale is developing data centers for some of the world's largest technology companies, with the total value of its multiyear contracts exceeding $103 billion.

Nscale's business is based on providing computing capacity for training and running AI models. The company builds data centers, equips them with powerful Nvidia chips, and leases the infrastructure to customers. In addition to Anthropic, its clients include Microsoft and ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. Nscale is developing projects in the U.S., the UK, Norway, and Portugal.

To finance its expansion, the company has been actively attracting investors. In September 2026, Nscale announced that it had raised $3.36 billion in a financing round led by investment firm Third Point. Participants included Nvidia, Apollo Global Management, Citadel, Hudson Bay Capital, and Abu Dhabi Investment Council.

View post on X Loading...

The tweet was deleted by the author.

But we saved everything 🙂.

At the same time, Nscale is strengthening its leadership team with experienced technology executives. Justin Osofsky, who spent 18 years at Meta, became the company's chief operating officer. Its board of directors also includes former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and former OpenAI executive Fidji Simo.

Data centers struggle to keep up with ambitions

Despite its enormous contract portfolio, Nscale is facing serious difficulties building its data centers. By August 2026, the company had built or leased less than 1% of the computing capacity it plans to deploy in the future. Some projects are already running several months behind schedule.

One example is the data center in Glomfjord, Norway, which Nscale is building for ByteDance. The project is six months behind schedule, with only 6.4 megawatts of the planned 30 megawatts operational. The delays were caused by leaks in the liquid cooling system, equipment problems, a fire, and construction setbacks. As a result, Nscale incurred multimillion-dollar penalty obligations to its customer.

View post on X Loading...

The tweet was deleted by the author.

But we saved everything 🙂.

Another setback came when Microsoft withdrew from a project in Loughton, Essex, in the UK. The company was supposed to become the data center's anchor tenant, but the project encountered local power grid constraints. Securing the necessary electricity capacity could be delayed until the early or mid-2030s.

Dependence on major customers presents another risk. According to Nscale's filings, approximately 85% of its contracts are concentrated with just two companies — Microsoft and Anthropic.

Problems have also emerged as the company expands in the U.S. At the Monarch site in West Virginia, heavy rains washed water and mud from the construction area onto neighboring properties and toward residential homes. Local authorities identified violations of stormwater management requirements, forcing the company to install additional protective barriers.

IPO under investor pressure

Despite these challenges, Nscale is moving ahead with its IPO preparations. In September 2026, the company filed documents to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker NSCL. It aims to raise up to $3 billion, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley leading the offering.

However, the company's valuation has become a point of disagreement. Nscale's management is targeting a valuation of around $30 billion, but some potential investors consider that figure too high. They have suggested lowering the valuation to between $16 billion and $19 billion, nearly half the original target.

Meanwhile, Nscale's financial results remain far below the scale of its contracts. In the first half of 2026, the company generated approximately $141 million in revenue but ended the period with a net loss of around $1 billion.

Deteriorating investor sentiment toward AI infrastructure companies is adding further pressure. For example, shares of U.S. data center operator CoreWeave lost 25% of their value last week. Shares of another major player, Nebius, fell 32% over two weeks. Australia's Firmus, which is also backed by Nvidia, abandoned its planned IPO altogether after failing to attract sufficient investor interest at the proposed price.

Although Nscale filed its IPO documents on September 18, it has yet to begin formally marketing its shares to investors. The company is still working through comments from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its filing.

In just two years, Nscale has gone from Bitcoin mining to securing contracts with some of the world's largest technology corporations. However, ahead of its IPO, the company must convince investors that it can do more than sign multibillion-dollar agreements. It must also demonstrate its ability to bring data centers online on schedule, meet customer commitments, and turn massive investments into profits.