--- title: "Microsoft quit Nscale's Essex site; investors reportedly counter its $30 billion IPO at $16-19 billion" description: "Days after Microsoft quit the Essex data center project, investors are pressing the Nvidia-backed neocloud Nscale to cut its New York listing price by nearly half, a move that would reprice every private mark above the final number." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Markets" published: 2026-10-19T13:15:22.482Z modified: 2026-10-19T13:15:22.482Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/microsoft-quit-nscale-s-essex-site-investors-reportedly-counter-its-30-billion-ipo-at-16-19-billion language: en keywords: "Nscale, Microsoft, IPO, Nvidia, Data Centers" --- # Microsoft quit Nscale's Essex site; investors reportedly counter its $30 billion IPO at $16-19 billion > Days after Microsoft quit the Essex data center project, investors are pressing the Nvidia-backed neocloud Nscale to cut its New York listing price by nearly half, a move that would reprice every private mark above the final number. [Nscale](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nscale), the London AI-cloud builder founded in 2024 by Josh Payne, filed on September 18 to list on the New York Stock Exchange as NSCL, seeking about $3 billion at a valuation near $30 billion [1][2]. On October 18, Bloomberg [reported that a group of investors has urged a listing in the $16–19 billion range](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-18/ai-cloud-firm-nscale-faces-investor-pushback-over-ipo-valuation) instead, after the implosion of Australian data center firm Firmus's own IPO plan [3]. The Daily Mail [reported the fight could cost Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister who joined Nscale's board in March, a £30 million payout](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16218555/Microsoft-pulls-AI-deal-UK-data-centre-firm-deprive-Nick-Clegg-30million-payout.html) [4][5]. [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia) joined [the $2 billion March Series C](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/09/nscale-ai-data-center-nvidia-raise.html) that valued the company at $14.6 billion [5]. ## The ask is $30 billion. The book says $16 to $19 billion. [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) has terminated its role in Loughton, Essex, where it was to anchor a £2 billion supercomputer campus of more than 23,000 GPUs, [after UK grid officials told Nscale power would not arrive until the 2030s](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9m26kl5y7epo) [6][7][8]. Microsoft is one of Nscale's two largest customers and about 40 percent of its contracted revenue, the Telegraph reported [7]. [The prospectus is blunter: one customer was 52 percent of first-half revenue](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/327754/20260920/nscale-files-30b-nyse-ipo-1b-nvidia-note-45b-anthropic-deal.htm), [Microsoft holds agreements worth up to $43.8 billion](https://theinference.org/article/the-cloud-landlord-is-a-tenant-microsoft-has-signed-for-up-to-43-8bn-of-nscale-capacity), and Microsoft walked away from a 1.35 gigawatt West Virginia letter of intent this summer [1]. [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) reportedly quit leases at several unbuilt UK sites in April, and Google reportedly took the West London capacity [8]. *Chart: **Buyers would pay about half the valuation Nscale seeks** Bar chart comparing Nscale's $30 billion IPO valuation target with the $16–19 billion range investors urged and its $14.6 billion March private valuation.* *Nscale's sought IPO valuation, the $16–19 billion range investors have urged (midpoint shown, an indication not a priced deal), and its last private mark. Sources: Bloomberg, October 18, 2026; CNBC, March 9, 2026. [3][5]* ## $103 billion promised, $140 million delivered The filing shows $103.4 billion in contracted value against $140.6 million of first-half revenue and a $1.02 billion net loss; 25,000 GPUs are running, 461,000 are contracted [1][2]. Norway's flagship operates 6.4 megawatts of a planned 30, about six months late [8]. The debt window is narrowing too: global AI debt issuance fell from $113 billion in June to $23 billion in September, the Financial Times reported [7]. [Nebius](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nebius), a rival AI-cloud operator listed on the Nasdaq, [fell 25.2 percent while the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) had its worst week since March](https://stocktwits.com/news-articles/markets/equity/stocktwits-tech-watch-netflix-and-meta-report-earnings-as-nvidia-oracle-product-events-loom/cZx8WbvRBME), and it is one of the listed rivals IPO buyers will price Nscale against [9]. ## Both prices break something Microsoft calls Loughton "a single site"; Nscale says the relationship remains strong, with work continuing in Norway, Portugal and the United States, and [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic) has signed up to $44.6 billion for the West Virginia capacity Microsoft vacated [1][6][7]. At $30 billion, the company [asks buyers to pay a mark investors have already contested](https://theinference.org/article/nscale-sold-3-36-billion-of-its-ipo-at-a-reported-discount-just-not-to-the-public) [3]. [The $3.1 billion September convertible](https://theinference.org/article/nscale-s-30-billion-ipo-filing-puts-nvidia-on-three-sides-of-the-deal), $1 billion of it from Nvidia, converts into shares at whatever price the IPO sets, and a $16–19 billion print would leave the March Series C, struck at $14.6 billion, with a premium as thin as 10 percent [1][5]. The price range in the amended S-1, which Nscale has yet to file, is the number to watch [1]. ## Takeaway Nscale's IPO book wants roughly half the $30 billion the Nvidia-backed neocloud is asking, and Microsoft's exit from the Essex site it was to anchor has sharpened the argument; the price range in the amended S-1 is the number that reprices every private mark. ## Sources 1. [TechTimes, "Nscale Files $30B NYSE IPO With $1B Nvidia Note and $45B Anthropic Deal", 20 September 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/327754/20260920/nscale-files-30b-nyse-ipo-1b-nvidia-note-45b-anthropic-deal.htm) 2. [Investing.com via Yahoo Finance, "Nscale files for IPO as pipeline passes $100 billion", 18 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nscale-files-ipo-pipeline-passes-203402491.html) 3. [Bloomberg, "AI Firm Nscale Faces Investor Pushback Over IPO Valuation", 18 October 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-18/ai-cloud-firm-nscale-faces-investor-pushback-over-ipo-valuation) 4. [Daily Mail, "Microsoft pulls out of AI deal for UK data centre firm in move that could deprive Nick Clegg of £30million payout", collected 19 October 2026](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16218555/Microsoft-pulls-AI-deal-UK-data-centre-firm-deprive-Nick-Clegg-30million-payout.html) 5. [CNBC, "Nvidia backs AI data center startup Nscale as it hits $14.6 billion valuation", 9 March 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/09/nscale-ai-data-center-nvidia-raise.html) 6. [BBC News, "Microsoft pulls out of Nscale's Essex AI data centre", 18 October 2026](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9m26kl5y7epo) 7. [Gizmodo, "Microsoft Pulls Out of Giant British AI Cloud Deal Just As Cloud Company Was Expecting to IPO", 19 October 2026](https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-pulls-out-of-giant-british-ai-cloud-deal-just-as-cloud-company-was-expecting-to-ipo-2000827469) 8. [Türkiye Today, "Microsoft backs out of Nscale's UK site weeks before IPO", 19 October 2026](https://www.turkiyetoday.com/business/microsoft-backs-out-of-nscales-uk-site-weeks-before-ipo-3230581) 9. [Stocktwits, "Stocktwits Tech Watch: Netflix And Meta Report Earnings As Nvidia, Oracle Product Events Loom", 19 October 2026](https://stocktwits.com/news-articles/markets/equity/stocktwits-tech-watch-netflix-and-meta-report-earnings-as-nvidia-oracle-product-events-loom/cZx8WbvRBME) --- Microsoft quit Nscale's Essex site; investors reportedly counter its $30 billion IPO at $16-19 billion — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/microsoft-quit-nscale-s-essex-site-investors-reportedly-counter-its-30-billion-ipo-at-16-19-billion