# Microsoft Withdraws From Nscale’s Loughton AI Data Center Plan By John Kim Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/34301 Published: 2026-10-18T09:07:02.000Z Updated: 2026-10-18T09:07:02.000Z Section: Business > Nscale remains committed to the site and is exploring alternative power. The original Microsoft plan called for 23,040 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs to be delivered in the first quarter of 2027. Microsoft has withdrawn from its planned role as anchor customer for Nscale’s Loughton AI data center in Essex, putting a key U.K. project under pressure as the company pursues a New York Stock Exchange listing. Microsoft did not comment. Nscale said it remains committed to the site and is exploring alternative power sources. “We remain committed to both the Loughton project and the UK and we are exploring alternative power sources for the site, in addition to other expansion sites in the UK,” an Nscale spokesman said. The spokesman added that the grid issue did not affect Nscale’s other Microsoft contracts. Nscale’s original plan called for 50 megawatts of capacity, with the option to expand to 90 megawatts. It included 23,040 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs planned for delivery in the first quarter of 2027 to provide computing capacity for Microsoft Azure services across the U.K. Power availability has threatened that schedule. Sufficient grid power may not be available until the early to mid-2030s, though a timeline for Loughton specifically has not been confirmed. Many data centers were waiting for work on the wider transmission network. In September, Nscale was examining on-site power and ways to speed up its grid connection. Nscale’s Sept. 18 registration statement proposes a New York Stock Exchange listing under the ticker NSCL but leaves the share count and price range blank. It reports $103.4 billion in active and contracted total contract value as of Aug. 31, 2026, including $2.6 billion of active value. The filing also lists Microsoft statements of work worth up to about $43.8 billion through December 2033. Those figures cover Nscale’s broader business and do not show how much, if any, is tied to Loughton. The company’s [wider data center commitments]() depend on facilities being completed and put into service. ## Links in this article - [wider data center commitments](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/25347)