Bitcoin mining offshoot Nscale loses Microsoft AI deal as power delay stretches into 2030s
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Technology giant Microsoft has walked away from a planned AI data center in England run by Nscale, a company spun out of bitcoin mining, after the local grid operator said it may not be able to power the site until the early-to-mid 2030s. The site in Loughton, Essex, was meant to house 23,040 Nvidia chips and supply 50 megawatts of computing to Microsoft’s Azure cloud by early 2027, according to the Guardian, which followed initial reporting by the Financial Times. UK Power Networks, which runs the local grid, told Nscale enough capacity may not be available for roughly another decade. Nscale announced the project last year alongside Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI. When the Guardian visited in February, the site was still a working scaffolding yard.
First reported by CoinDesk. This page is a short excerpt; the full text is theirs.
