Nscale 主要投資者稱微軟退出的交易只是「小型合約」
Microsoft "minor contract" loss, says Nscale key investor
Aker ASA 行政總裁 Øyvind Eriksen 稱，微軟退出與 Nscale 的算力租賃交易只是「相對較小的合約」，並表示終止交易在預期之內。他表示，Nscale 自 Series C 以來業務活動及合約組合均已增逾一倍。該交易涉及英國 Essex 數據中心，該中心預計要到 2030 年後才可能有電力供應；Nscale 正瞄準估值 $35bn 的美國 IPO。
The CEO of the largest investor in the UK AI infrastructure startup gearing up for a planned $35bn IPO today termed Microsoft pulling out of a data centre deal with Nscale as a “minor contract", as he looked to reassure investors ahead of Nscale’s US IPO.
Øyvind Eriksen, president & CEO of Aker ASA, the Norwegian industrial investment company, which owns around a 23 per cent stake in Nscale, addressed a question today about whether Microsoft pulling out of a deal to lease compute capacity from Nscale in the UK’s largest AI data centre was a setback.
Speaking in its Q3 results presentation, Eriksen said: “Since we did the Series C, Nscale has more than doubled its activity and contract portfolio. That was one, relatively speaking, minor contract in a bigger portfolio.” He said the termination of the Microsoft deal was “expected”.
Questioned about the risks facing Nscale, Eriksen said: ”The sector is continuing to develop. The speed of innovation, the amount of investments, the capital available and the adoption of the technologies continue to grow. There is no doubt in my mind that new winners and losers are about to be defined. And ultimately, history tells that the best performance, the best execution, will win.”
His comments come amid questions about whether so-called neoclouds like Nscale, Nebius and Coreweave, which run data centres packed with chips which they lease to major AI developers like Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta, are financially sound.
Analysts at Gartner predict by 2030, 80 per cent of neocloud firms will "cease independent operations".
Aker's stake in Nscale is valued at around $3.31bn, which is based on Nscale's Series C valuation in March this year, in which Aker invested around $350m at a $14.6bn valuation.
Microsoft cancelled a deal to lease computing capacity from Nscale after it emerged that its Essex data centre would be unlikely to have a power supply until after 2030.
Cancelling the contract of the data centre, part of a £22bn investment from Microsoft into the UK, was a blow to Nscale ahead of its New York IPO, in which it is targeting a $35bn valuation.
Nscale is reported to be close to a new multibillion-dollar deal with AI giant Anthropic, doubling its commitment to buy computing power from Nscale in its major data centre in West Virginia.
來源：Tech.eu · tech.eu