Nscale doubles GPUs to 50,000; Anthropic deal could reach $44.6B

By Nathan Brooks

Nscale says it has doubled active GPUs to about 50,000 in roughly 2½ months. The figure comes from the amended registration statement Nscale filed for a New York IPO on Nov. 12.

The London-based AI cloud company now operates seven active data-center sites, up from five in the S-1 it filed in September. Its Aug. 31 snapshot showed about 25,000 active GPUs. The installed computing base has roughly doubled; the stated pipeline has not.

What changed in 2½ months?

The filing’s site and capacity tables show:

• Active GPUs: about 25,000 on Aug. 31; about 50,000 on Nov. 12.
• Active sites: five to seven.
• Active-plus-contracted GPUs: unchanged at about 461,000.
• Contracted sites: 12 to 10.
• Active-plus-contracted capacity: unchanged at 1.37 GW.

The table indicates that Nscale moved GPUs from the contracted side into active service without expanding the disclosed total. The 50,000 count covers active GPUs; the 461,000 count combines active and contracted units.

At June 30, Nscale had deployed 19,048 GPUs, all in Norway and Portugal. DatacenterDynamics first flagged the November increase.

The newly active locations are a 20 MW Tier 1 colocation site in the UK and a 200 MW leased US site. The US facility in Ward County, Texas, operates under a net lease and is Nscale’s only leased location. The prospectus identifies it as a main driver of rising rental costs.

Why did Microsoft reduce its commitments?

At the Texas site, Microsoft declined an option to more than double its contract in November, according to the Financial Times. That decision concerns Ward County.

A $3.22 billion Microsoft statement of work ended after the local power provider withdrew the grid connection date at Loughton, UK, the prospectus says. The September table also listed a 50 MW owned UK site; it no longer appears in the amended filing. Grid access, in short, can decide which megawatt becomes a live megawatt.

How large is Anthropic’s commitment?

Under agreements signed Aug. 25, Nscale will provide Anthropic with dedicated infrastructure for Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 systems at the Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County, West Virginia. Payments can reach about $44.6 billion.

On Sept. 29, Anthropic exercised its right to contract for additional compute in Building 2. The companies have 60 days, subject to extension, to agree terms, and Anthropic holds a further right over Building 3. Exercising the right does not yet complete the Building 2 contract.

Can Nscale finance the build-out?

Nscale has not obtained binding financing for the Anthropic agreements. The prospectus states: "as of the date of this prospectus, we have not obtained binding commitments for any of the financings required to fund performance under the Anthropic Services Agreements." It must use best efforts to arrange financing for the GPUs and the Monarch facility within a set period.

Nscale has already placed large GPU and networking orders to avoid delay penalties written into those agreements. The company expects $19 billion to $21 billion of data-center and power capital spending to finish its contracted sites. About $3 billion had been spent by Sept. 30.

The same amended filing records a $1.69 billion nine-month loss and a 14-fold jump in revenue. Rapid deployment and rapid revenue growth have not removed the funding gap. Nscale’s largest customer commitment is therefore also its largest disclosed financing challenge.

The next test is not announced GPU supply; it is the capital required to turn the 461,000-GPU active-and-contracted pipeline into operating capacity.