Nscale, the Nvidia-backed AI cloud provider preparing a New York listing, disclosed in an amended IPO filing on November 12 that its debt reached $5.5 billion at September 30, up from $137.4 million at the end of June. The filing also says Nvidia has committed $2 billion to a convertible financing of more than $3 billion, double the $1 billion first disclosed in September.

The numbers lay bare the cost of Nscale’s breakneck buildout. The London-based company, founded in 2024, is racing to build data center capacity for Anthropic and other customers, and the amended prospectus warns that it needs more money to meet its commitments. Bloomberg first reported the new figures, and the filing itself spells out the scale of the bet.

What the filing shows

Nscale’s debt has grown at a pace that matches its ambitions. It stood at $78.9 million at the end of 2025, reached $137.4 million by June 30, and then jumped to $5.5 billion by September 30, according to the amended filing. Cash and equivalents were $3.6 billion at the same date, leaving the company with more debt than cash on hand.

Revenue is growing from a small base. Sales were $140.6 million in the first half of 2026, and preliminary revenue for the nine months to September 30 was $307.5 million, against $21.3 million a year earlier. The company posted a net loss of $1.02 billion in the first half, and its estimated net loss for the nine months is close to $1.7 billion.

The filing also warns that some of Nscale’s new commitments cannot be deferred, reduced or cancelled, and that it has no binding financing in place to fund its obligations under its contracts with Anthropic. That agreement is valued at up to about $44.6 billion and covers roughly 460 megawatts of computing capacity at the Monarch campus in West Virginia. “There can be no assurance that additional capital will be obtained by us when required or on acceptable terms,” the filing warns, as reported by The Times.

Bar chart of Nscale total debt: $78.9 million at December 2025, $137.4 million at June 2026, $5.5 billion at September 2026

Nscale’s debt jumped fortyfold in a single quarter as it funded its data center buildout. Source: Nscale amended S-1 filing. Graphic: GPTOnline.

Nvidia is investor, lender, customer and guarantor

No company is more entangled in Nscale’s rise than Nvidia. The chipmaker has invested more than $2 billion in Nscale, signed a $1.2 billion deal to lease capacity from the company, and guaranteed $860 million of lease obligations at a Texas site. It is also the supplier of the chips Nscale buys, making it investor, customer, guarantor and vendor at the same time.

The convertible financing underlines that dependence. Nvidia is providing $2 billion of the $3.36 billion convertible loan agreed in September, up from the $1 billion previously disclosed, Barron’s reported. The second $1 billion of Nvidia’s commitment closes on or around November 16.

Graphic listing Nvidia's four roles at Nscale: investor, lender, customer and guarantor

Nvidia plays four roles at Nscale at once, as investor, lender, customer and guarantor. Source: Nscale amended S-1 filing. Graphic: GPTOnline.

Why it matters

Nscale’s IPO is being watched as a barometer of the market’s appetite for the AI infrastructure buildout, and the new filing complicates that story. The company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NSCL, but the filing gives no price range and does not say how much Nscale intends to raise. Press reports have put the target valuation at up to $35 billion, but the amended document contains neither that figure nor any other valuation number.

The timing adds pressure. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang resigned this week, and Treasury yields have climbed, with the 10-year note near 5.13 percent, raising the cost of the debt that funds data center construction. Microsoft has also pulled back from Nscale: it withdrew from a $3.2 billion London-area contract after the site was found not to be grid-connected until the 2030s, Dealroom reported, and it previously declined a Texas option.

Nscale says it has $103.4 billion in total contract value, but most of that has yet to begin, with only about $2.6 billion currently active. The gap between contracted future revenue and cash collected today is the heart of the IPO debate: investors must decide whether the backlog justifies the borrowing.

What happens next

The second $1 billion of Nvidia’s convertible commitment is due to close on or around November 16. Nscale’s IPO is expected later this year or in early 2027, according to Barron’s. The company has about six months to fund its first Monarch site, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Dealroom, and a second West Virginia building must be agreed before the end of November or Anthropic has no outstanding obligation for it. Whether the market will fund the next leg of the buildout is now the question the filing leaves open.

Sources