Nick Clegg and Sheryl Sandberg have joined the board of British artificial intelligence infrastructure startup Nscale after the company closed a major funding round valuing the company at $14.6 billion.
The appointments come as Nscale has secured $2 billion in fresh capital from a consortium of global investors including US semiconductor giant Nvidia, significantly boosting the company’s ambitions to build large-scale data center infrastructure for the fast-growing AI industry.
The move positions Nscale among the most valuable technology start-ups in Europe and reflects growing investor interest in the infrastructure underlying the development of artificial intelligence.
Founded in May 2024 by entrepreneur John Payne, Nscale is focused on building large-scale data centers necessary to power advanced AI models and cloud computing services.
The company expects that the explosive growth of AI in the coming decade will require enormous new computing capacity.
Payne said artificial intelligence will transform almost every sector of the global economy.
“In the next five years, artificial intelligence will be integrated into every industry, every product and every job,” he said. “Accelerating drug discovery, extending human life, automating travel and robotics, increasing productivity and driving massive economic growth.”
“This leads to the largest infrastructure expansion in human history. Nscale is leading this expansion.”
The company plans to invest $2.5 billion in the UK’s data center infrastructure over the coming years, strengthening the UK’s role in the global AI supply chain.
One of the company’s flagship projects is the construction of the UK’s largest “sovereign” AI data center.
The facility is planned for Loughton in Essex and is expected to be operational by 2026.
The term “sovereign” refers to the fact that the data center will house UK-based AI infrastructure designed to support national research institutes, businesses and government operations.
Demand for such infrastructure has surged as companies compete to deploy advanced AI models that require massive computing power.
The data center will rely heavily on Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs), widely considered to be the most powerful chips available for training and operating artificial intelligence systems.
Clegg’s appointment adds significant policy and regulatory expertise to the company’s leadership.
The former British deputy prime minister spent several years at Meta as president of global affairs, where he oversaw policies, regulations and government relations for the company’s global operations.
His experience in dealing with international regulatory frameworks is expected to be particularly valuable as governments around the world grapple with the governance of AI technologies.
Sandberg, who previously served as Meta’s chief operating officer and played a key role in building the company into one of the world’s largest technology companies, brings extensive operational and leadership expertise to the board.
Together, the two figures represent some of the highest-ranking executives who moved from Silicon Valley’s social media industry to the emerging AI infrastructure sector.
Several large global investors participated in the latest financing round.
In addition to Nvidia, the round was supported by Aker ASA and New York-based investment firm 8090 Industries.
Nscale had already raised significant funds before the last round.
In December 2024, the company raised $155 million in a Series A funding round led by Sandton Capital Partners.
Last year, Nvidia also committed around £500 million in investments, strengthening the strategic partnership between the chipmaker and the British start-up.
Nvidia founder Jensen Huang has previously described Nscale as a potential “national champion” for the UK in the fast-growing AI infrastructure market.
In addition to Clegg and Sandberg, the company also appointed Susan Decker to its board.
Decker, CEO and co-founder of university software platform Raftr, was previously president of Yahoo and currently sits on the boards of several major organizations, including Costco, Berkshire Hathaway and Vox Media.
Her appointment further strengthens Nscale’s leadership team as it prepares for large-scale infrastructure build-out.
The surge in investment reflects a broader global race to build the computing infrastructure needed to support next-generation AI systems.
Training large language models and advanced AI applications requires enormous amounts of computing power, storage and energy.
As a result, technology companies, governments and investors worldwide are pouring billions into building data centers.
Much of this growth is related to cloud platforms such as Microsoft and its Azure cloud services, which rely on powerful AI infrastructure to provide machine learning capabilities to businesses and developers.
Nscale’s projects are intended to help expand the availability of such services in the UK and across Europe.
The expansion of companies like Nscale is part of a broader push by the British government to position the country as a global center for artificial intelligence research and development.
The UK is already home to some of the world’s leading AI institutions and companies, including DeepMind and a growing ecosystem of technology start-ups.
Large investments in data centers are considered crucial to maintaining this competitive advantage.
As the AI boom accelerates, infrastructure companies like Nscale are expected to play an increasingly central role in determining the next generation of technological breakthroughs.
