Nscale invests €695M in Portugal with Microsoft as crypto-to-AI neocloud hits $14.6B valuation in two years

Nscale, a former cryptocurrency mining company, has announced a €695 million investment in Portugal to supply 66,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs to Microsoft's Start Campus data centre in Sines. The deal extends Nscale's partnership with Microsoft and positions the company as Europe's most valuable AI infrastructure startup at a $14.6 billion valuation following a $2 billion Series C backed by Nvidia, Lenovo, Dell, and others. The neocloud model — leasing GPU compute exclusively to AI developers — is being validated at scale, with Nscale raising $3.1 billion in under 18 months. The Portugal site benefits from lower energy costs, renewable power, and pre-secured grid permits for 1.2 gigawatts of capacity. The piece also examines how private capital, not EU sovereign compute programmes, is funding Europe's AI infrastructure buildout, and whether the neocloud model will remain viable once GPU supply constraints ease.