Nscale's 23,040 GPUs Are Due in 2027. Power May Wait

Nscale's Loughton AI campus now carries two incompatible clocks. Its published plan calls for an initial 50 MW of AI capacity, scalable to 90 MW, with 23,040 Nvidia GB300 GPUs delivered in the first quarter of 2027. The company says the facility will support Microsoft Azure services in the UK.

The power timetable is much less firm. The Guardian reported that UK Power Networks had told Nscale sufficient supply might not be available until the early to mid-2030s. UK Power Networks declined to discuss the individual project. Nscale said it remained committed and was examining on-site generation and a faster connection.

That distinction matters. No UK Power Networks offer is public, so there is no independently verifiable contractual energisation date for Loughton. The early to mid-2030s range is a reported estimate, not a published connection document. Public Nscale material supports an initial 50 MW design and an expansion path to 90 MW. It does not establish whether an accepted connection offer covers 50 MW, 90 MW or a phased amount. Customers therefore cannot yet map the chip delivery to an in-service date.

A partial connection would mean a partial machine

Phasing can narrow the gap only if meaningful power arrives before the full connection. On Nscale's published ratio, each 10 MW tranche represents one-fifth of the initial 50 MW configuration, equivalent to about 4,608 of the planned 23,040 GPUs if compute, cooling and networking scale evenly. A 20 MW phase would imply about 9,216 GPUs. Nscale has not disclosed an interim megawatt allocation or a date for one.

On-site generation has the same disclosure problem. Nscale is investigating it, but no signed supplier, generating capacity, fuel arrangement, planning route or commissioning date has been announced. A bridge described only as an option cannot yet carry a 2027 delivery promise.

Battery storage is not a substitute for a continuing energy source. A constant 50 MW load consumes 50 MWh each hour and 1.2 GWh in a day. At 90 MW, one day requires 2.16 GWh. Those figures follow directly from Nscale's stated 50 MW and 90 MW capacities. Storage could smooth peaks or cover interruptions, but it cannot sustain the campus through a multi-year grid wait without generation or a separate supply that recharges it.

Temporary UK hosting is more plausible, but the disclosed numbers are smaller. Nscale and BT announced up to 14 MW across three existing UK sites in April 2026. Even if all of that capacity were technically suitable and diverted to the Microsoft deployment, it would equal 28% of Loughton's initial 50 MW and about 6,451 GPUs on the same linear ratio. Neither company has said that the BT capacity is available for Loughton hardware. Nscale also lists a partner-run site at Hayes, but publishes no capacity or availability figure for it.

Moving the GPUs abroad could protect a wider Microsoft contract while failing the UK outcome. Nscale's expanded Microsoft programme includes 12,600 GB300 GPUs at Sines in Portugal from the first quarter of 2026, alongside much larger deployments in other countries. Those sites are already assigned to customer programmes, and no spare capacity has been disclosed. More importantly, a foreign deployment would not provide the UK-based Azure capacity promised for Loughton.

The queue numbers measure different things

Loughton sits inside a much larger connection problem, but the figures need clean denominators. Ofgem's consultation says contracted demand offers rose from 41 GW in November 2024 to 125 GW in June 2025. It identifies about 73 GW of the 125 GW queue as data centres. The same document counts 315 data-centre projects.

Ofgem's accompanying release separately says data-centre projects accounted for at least 80 GW of the growth in demand applications. That growth measure is not the same as the 73 GW stock of data-centre capacity in the queue. The figures should not be added or treated as competing estimates of one total.

The regulator's proposed tests would favour projects that can prove delivery. Its milestone framework would apply from 10 MW of rated IT load and asks for evidence of a credible compute customer, long-lead electrical procurement, and financial and technical capability. Nscale's published 50 MW capacity suggests Loughton could fall within scope, but the disclosure does not identify rated IT load. Microsoft supplies a named customer. Epping Forest's planning register says application EPF/0404/26 approved the reserved matters of appearance and landscaping. But there is no public Ofgem or network-operator finding that Loughton has met every proposed milestone, and no disclosed evidence yet fixes the power schedule.

The proposed commitment fee is also conditional. Ofgem proposes applying it at 40 MW or more to transmission-connected projects and distribution projects with a transmission impact, at £237,500 to £712,500 per MW. If 50 MW were the applicable capacity, the illustrative security would be £11.875 million to £35.625 million. At 90 MW it would be £21.375 million to £64.125 million. The consultation is closed and awaiting a decision, so neither range is a bill owed by Nscale. The applicable capacity, final rule and any exemption still have to be established.

The customer test comes next

The government has acknowledged that grid delays are a major barrier and says it is working with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator to prioritise viable projects. Its 16 September parliamentary answer did not provide a Loughton date or bridge supply.

That leaves a precise test for the project. Nscale needs to publish enough 2027 power to support a useful first phase, or identify another UK site with an available megawatt figure and a Microsoft service date. Until then, a delayed Loughton building is not automatically delayed Azure capacity, because GPUs can move. Nor does one site prove Britain's AI infrastructure strategy has failed. It does show that announcements measured in chips are not delivery plans until the power is measured in megawatts and tied to a date.

Sources

• Nscale UK AI infrastructure announcement
• Nscale UK data-centre investment announcement
• Nscale and BT UK sovereign AI announcement
• Nscale expanded Microsoft agreement
• Ofgem consultation document
• Ofgem consultation page
• Ofgem data-centre connections release
• Epping Forest planning register entry EPF/0404/26
• UK Parliament written answer HL3044
• The Guardian on the reported Loughton connection delay