London, Oslo - 25 September 2025 - London-based AI infrastructure startup Nscale has raised USD 1.1 billion in Series B funding, the largest such round in European history. The raise, led by Norway’s Aker ASA with participation from NVIDIA, Dell, Nokia, Point72, Fidelity Management & Research, G Squared, Blue Owl, and T.Capital, underscores the surging demand for sovereign, energy-efficient AI infrastructure.
The funds will accelerate Nscale’s rollout of vertically integrated, GPU-first data centers across Europe, North America, and the Middle East, with a focus on pairing high-performance compute with low-cost renewable energy. Projects include the Stargate Norway joint venture with Aker and OpenAI, targeting 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by 2026, powered by hydroelectric resources, and a GBP 2.5 billion (USD 3 billion) AI campus in Loughton, Essex, slated to host the UK’s largest AI supercomputer.
“AI is reshaping industries, economies, and national strategies, but it cannot happen without the physical backbone: the data centers, the GPUs, and the software to orchestrate them. Europe needs a hyperscaler, and Nscale is rising to the challenge,” said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale.
Nscale’s model spans hardware and software, offering compute, networking, and orchestration alongside APIs for AI training, fine-tuning, and inference. Partnerships with Microsoft, OpenAI, and NVIDIA position it as a sovereign alternative to U.S. hyperscalers like AWS and CoreWeave.
Øyvind Eriksen, President & CEO of Aker ASA, framed the deal as both strategic and national in scope said,
“With Nscale, we’re backing infrastructure that’s sovereign, scalable, and purpose-built to accelerate this transformation. The scale and quality of this Series B round are a testament to Nscale’s vision and momentum.”
Other partners reinforced the significance. Larry Aschebrook, Founder & Managing Partner at G Squared, called Nscale’s execution “massive-scale, sovereign infrastructure that enterprises and nations can actually consume.”
Justin Hotard, President & CEO of Nokia, said the partnership would “enable the innovation needed for the future of AI infrastructure.”
The rise comes amid global shortages of GPUs and rising geopolitical emphasis on compute sovereignty. By aligning renewable energy with AI infrastructure, Nscale aims to outpace competitors while addressing sustainability and regulatory hurdles.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as the exclusive placement agent for the round.
