Nscale, an AI hyperscaler and data centre developer, has expanded its London office space by adding an extra floor in its Mayfair headquarters. This move coincides with the firm's rapid growth in the UK, where staff numbers have soared from 70 in June last year to nearly 450 today. The additional capacity is designed to house up to 300 workers.
According to reports, more than 40 percent of the UK-based employees are in high-skilled technical roles. Globally, the company's workforce now exceeds 800. The firm was most recently valued at $25bn in its latest round of funding.
Imran Shafi, Nscale's UK Managing Director, described the UK's emerging AI talent as a key factor in the company’s decision to expand. He highlighted the potential of UK-based AI labs to influence future developments in the field.
Nscale also signed a letter of intent this week to support the British Open-ended Learning & Discovery Lab (Bold), a government-backed initiative funded with £30m to support AI research. The firm is set to contribute $1m in computing power to the project.
The Bold initiative, involving universities such as Oxford, UCL and Imperial College, aims to foster UK AI research. Nscale said it is working to finalize arrangements for infrastructure, access, and operations, while exploring broader technical and educational collaborations.
Shafi, a former adviser to Number 10 during Rishi Sunak’s tenure, added that the UK government is aiming to support the next major breakthroughs in AI through initiatives like Bold. He described the current state of AI research in the UK as a particularly exciting period.