Nscale files its S-1 for the NYSE with $103.4 billion in contracts and $1.02 billion in losses

The British AI cloud provider will target around $30 billion in valuation, after raising $3.36 billion ahead of its IPO.

Nscale, a London-based AI compute hosting provider, filed its Form S-1 on Sept. 18 for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NSCL. The deal would target a valuation of around $30 billion, with some market sources suggesting as high as $35 billion. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

The document puts two figures side by side that are difficult to reconcile: an active and contracted order book of $103.4 billion, and a net loss of $1.02 billion on revenue of $140.6 million for the six months ended June 30. The discrepancy illustrates the industry model, where capacity building precedes the invoicing of signed commitments by several years. Prior to the IPO, the company had already raised $3.36 billion from a group of investors led by the Third Point fund.

The context is one of increasing selectivity among investors on AI infrastructure files, which are now being examined on the quality of the order book and the ability to convert demand into margins and cash, more than on the size announced.