Nscale Targets $3 Billion IPO as AI Data Center Demand Soars

Nscale, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, aims to raise as much as $3 billion in an initial public offering that could take place as soon as September, Bloomberg reported Friday (Aug. 21), citing unnamed sources.

Deliberations are ongoing, and the details could change, according to the report.

Nscale is developing data centers in Norway and West Virginia, and the company has told potential investors that it has $51 billion in total contracted revenue, per the report.

Nscale did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

Nscale announced in March that it raised $2 billion in a Series C funding round that valued the company at $14.6 billion. The company said its Series C was the largest in European history.

Nscale announced in September that it raised $1.1 billion in a Series B funding round and that this was the largest Series B in European history. Days later, on Oct. 1, Nscale said that it closed a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE backed by key investors.

When announcing the Series C in May, Nscale CEO and Founder Josh Payne said that AI is “the fourth industrial revolution” and that AI will be integrated into every industry, product and job over the next five years.

“This is leading to the largest infrastructure buildout in human history,” Payne said. “Nscale is leading this buildout. We are building this foundation that the market sits on, the engine of superintelligence.”

Nscale announced in July that it closed a $900 million revolving credit facility to accelerate its AI data center buildout and capital deployment across the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company said its AI cloud platform includes software, compute and power, and it is used by enterprises, governments and communities.

According to Friday’s Bloomberg report, there has been a wave of IPOs as companies race to build AI data centers and lease out processing power. Among them are Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust, which raised $2 billion in an IPO in May; Csquare, which raised $1.21 billion in an IPO in July; and Switch, which filed confidentially for a listing that could take place as soon as November, per the report.