Nscale failed to reach a multi-billion dollar agreement with Microsoft, putting its listing target under pressure

According to the Financial Times, Nscale, the UK's most highly valued AI startup, has failed to reach a potential new multi-billion dollar agreement with Microsoft, putting its plan for a $35 billion IPO under fresh scrutiny. Three people familiar with the matter said that Microsoft declined to more than double the scale of its existing data center computing power lease contract, with the facility located in Texas, USA. This means that Nscale must now find new customers for this data center or risk losing billions of dollars in potential future revenue. Currently, dissatisfaction sparked by AI data center construction across the US has become one of the reasons voters refused to support incumbent Republican candidates in Tuesday’s midterm elections. In some states, including Texas, newly elected Democratic governors are calling for an immediate halt to data center development projects.