As computing power is increasingly demanded across all industries, the race to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure has intensified.
Nscale, a startup AI data center company announced on Monday that it had raised $2 billion at a valuation of $14.6 billion. This shows investor confidence in the companies that are building the AI economy.
In the Series C round, major technology companies, financial institutions and Nvidia chip giant were included, reflecting a growing interest in infrastructure required to run advanced AI models.
Nscale will use the new funds to support its efforts to expand across Europe, North America and Asia with their integrated AI computing platforms.
Round of funding
Aker ASA, 8090 Industries, and Nvidia were the leaders of Series C.
Astra Capital Management backed the financing, as did Citadel, Dell Jane Street, Lenovo Linden Advisors Nokia and Point72.
As companies develop the AI systems needed to support ever-more complex AI models, the mix of investors shows the broad interest shown by the industry in AI infrastructure.
As the demand for computing power continues to grow, large technology companies and financial investors are investing in this sector.
Nscale says the funding it has received will help accelerate its development of a vertically integrated AI platform.
Its focus is on the integration of GPU computing with networking, data services and orchestration within one technology stack for AI workloads.
Infrastructure expansion
Data centres are already located in several different regions.
The company has infrastructure in Norway, Portugal and Iceland, as well as the UK.
The high-performance computer environments are designed to meet the processing demands of AI models.
For training and operating modern AI systems, large clusters graphics processor units and special networking hardware are required.
Nscale’s integrated infrastructure aims to make it easier for organisations to access and use computing resources required for AI development.
As global demand for AI computing increases, the company stated that the new capital would support its expansion across Europe, North America and Asia.
Tech partnerships
Nscale, a technology company that specializes in infrastructure design and development has partnered with major companies to develop partnerships.
Microsoft announced in October that it would expand its partnership with the company, which is expected to bring about $14 billion worth of business.
In the early summer of 2018, Nscale partnered up with OpenAI in order to launch an AI data center project branded Stargate in Norway.
This collaboration is a reflection of the growing need for infrastructure that can support AI at a large scale.
The agreements illustrate how the infrastructure provider is becoming a central part of the AI ecosystem, as models are being built by companies that require large computing environments.
Plans for IPO
Nscale also plans to become public once it grows its business.
In October, the company announced that they are considering an initial stock offering.
The CEO and founder Josh Payne stated that the rapid development of artificial intelligence has led to one of the biggest infrastructure builds in history.
AI companies need a lot of computing power to develop increasingly sophisticated models.
Investors are increasingly interested in the companies that build infrastructure for AI systems, as global spending on AI chips and data centers increases.
This article AI data center startup Nscale raises $2.2B with Nvidia as a backer appeared first on the ICD
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