Microsoft Pulls Out of UK Nscale Data Center Deal Over Power Delay

3-line summary

• Microsoft's withdrawal from its data center agreement with Nvidia-backed Nscale, first reported by the Telegraph, was due to a power-connection delay at the Loughton, Essex site that grid officials said would push power supply into the 2030s; the 50 MW facility was meant to house 23,040 Nvidia GB300 GPUs and had been announced during President Trump's September 2025 UK visit, originally targeted to go live in early next year to support Microsoft's Azure services.
• A Microsoft spokesperson said 'this decision relates to a single site' and that its broader partnership with Nscale continues; Nscale said the issue is a 'London-wide grid issue' not affecting other contracts, and that it is pursuing the Loughton project and its UK business by exploring alternative power sources and other expansion sites.
• UK data center projects face grid-connection queue delays of up to 13 years, according to the report; Nscale has filed for a US IPO, with its prospectus identifying Microsoft and Anthropic as expected major customers, and its total contracted value reportedly grew from $100 million to more than $103 billion over about two and a half years.

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