Nscale has a contract book that would make most infrastructure companies blush. According to its SEC S-1 filing, the UK-based AI data center company has a total contract value of $103.4 billion, anchored by deals with Microsoft and Anthropic.
The filing, dated September 18, 2026, comes ahead of a proposed New York Stock Exchange IPO under the ticker NSCL. Nscale is reportedly aiming for a valuation of up to $35 billion. Bloomberg reports that the company is facing project delays even as it pitches that massive backlog to public market investors.
A huge backlog with a small live footprint
Microsoft and Anthropic together account for approximately 85% of Nscale’s total contract value.
Microsoft’s contracts are worth about $43.8 billion and run through December 2033.
Anthropic’s agreements were signed on August 25, 2026. They are valued at up to $44.6 billion for 460 megawatts of capacity at the Monarch campus in West Virginia.
Only $2.6 billion of the contract value is tied to live operational capacity. That live capacity stands at 55 megawatts, all of it in Europe. Meanwhile, signed contracts cover 1.37 gigawatts.
Revenue is soaring, and so are losses
Nscale reported revenue of $140.6 million for the first half of 2026, up 1,252% year over year. The company posted a net loss of $1.02 billion over the same period.
Norway and West Virginia are the pressure points
The first is Glomfjord, Nscale’s flagship site in Norway. It has faced a six-month delay tied to multiple construction issues. The site is currently operating at only 6.4 megawatts. The delays have also led to penalties connected to customers, including Microsoft.
The second pressure point is the Anthropic deal. Despite its headline value of up to $44.6 billion, the contract remains unfunded because Nscale has not secured financing for it.
As of mid-October 2026, Nscale’s IPO plans are still moving forward despite these execution risks.
From crypto mining to AI compute
Nscale was launched in 2024 as a spinoff from Arkon Energy, a crypto mining business, and pivoted its focus to AI infrastructure and data centers.
The company also has a heavyweight partner in Nvidia. The chipmaker plays several roles at once: investor, supplier, customer and guarantor.
What this means for investors and the AI buildout
With approximately 85% of contract value concentrated in Microsoft and Anthropic, any renegotiation, delay penalty or financing shortfall on those deals would hit the investment case directly.
The Anthropic contract is the clearest swing factor. If Nscale secures financing for the West Virginia campus, the backlog starts to look more like a pipeline. If it cannot, a large share of the contract value remains theoretical.
The Norway experience offers a useful stress test. A six-month delay and a site running at 6.4 megawatts show how construction problems can ripple into customer penalties. Scaling from 55 megawatts to more than a gigawatt multiplies the number of things that can go wrong.
Key things to watch include financing news on the Anthropic project, progress at Glomfjord and any updates to the IPO valuation range as the listing approaches.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.