Microsoft abandons UK AI supercomputer as grid struggles to keep up
Tech giant walks away from flagship Essex project as power connection delays threaten to leave nation's AI ambitions waiting until the 2030s..
Tech giant walks away from flagship Essex project as power connection delays threaten to leave nation's AI ambitions waiting until the 2030s.
The short version
- The tech giant has terminated its agreement with British AI infrastructure startup Nscale for a planned datacenter in Loughton, Essex, according to The Telegraph, which first reported the withdrawal on Sunday.
- The decision follows reports that the site, which was supposed to begin operating in 2027, might not receive enough electricity from the grid until the early to mid-2030s.
- Microsoft was expected to be the anchor customer at Loughton, which Nscale had pitched as the UK's largest sovereign AI datacenter.
What happened
Its departure leaves Nscale without a publicly announced customer for the site, although the neocloud insists the project is still going ahead. When the deal was announced in September 2025, the plan was to pack 23,040 Nvidia GB300 GPUs into a 50MW facility, with room to expand to 90MW.
Why it matters
Microsoft would use the computing power for its Azure cloud services, with the first chips expected in early 2027.
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