Nscale bags $1.4bn loan as AI infrastructure shifts to private credit
London-based AI cloud provider Nscale has secured a $1.4bn (£1.03bn) delayed draw term loan backed by GPUs, in one of the largest private credit deals yet tied directly to AI hardware deployments in Europe.
The facility was led by funds managed by Pimco, Blue Owl and LuminArx Capital Management, with support from additional asset managers and banks.Goldman Sachs acted as sole structuring and placement agent.
The capital will be used to fund graphics processing unit (GPU) systems linked to already executed customer contracts across Europe, as well as to provide liquidity for future investments.
The ‘delayed draw’ structure is set to allow Nscale to access funds as hardware is deployed, rather than drawing the full amount straight off the bat.
Josh Payne, founder and chief executive of Nscale, said: “This GPU debt financing is a key step in meeting that demand – backing infrastructure that can be delivered faster and more cost-effectively than industry norms, whether that’s large-scale hubs in Norway to smaller metro clusters built for low-latency workloads.”
Debt replaces dilution
The deal points to a wider shift in how fast-growing AI infrastructure providers are funding sprawling expansion.
Rather than relying solely on equity raises, operators are increasingly turning to structured private credit to finance capital-intensive GPU clusters tied to long term contracts.
Nscale has expanded exponentially over the past twelve months. Back in September, it raised $1.1bn from backers like Nvidia and Nokia, followed by a further $433m.
It had previously secured $155m in December 2024, and reports earlier this year suggested the firm was working with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan on a potential $2bn raise ahead of a planned IPO.
The firm has committed to investing £2.5bn in the UK, with its first British facility in Essex set to host a Microsoft supercomputer.
Nscale is also involved in a $10bn datacentre project in Portugal and is developing Stargate Norway, where OpenAI is renting capacity.
AI data centres are hugely power hungry, and require significant upfront spending on chips and cooling systems, with revenues traditionally secured through large tech customers.
But the size of Nscale’s loan, in this case, shows the scale of capital now required to compete in the infrastructure race.