From Crypto Warehouses to Britain’s AI Superpower Bid: Josh Payne’s £750m Gamble
When Josh Payne first made his name in the shadowy world of Bitcoin mining, few could have predicted that within a few short years he would be sitting on one of the largest AI funding rounds in British history. Yet here he is. His startup, Nscale, has just raised an extraordinary £750 million ($1.1 billion) to build what it insists will be the country’s biggest artificial intelligence data centre. It is a figure designed to turn heads, but perhaps also to raise eyebrows. After all, Payne’s company is just 18 months old and has never actually finished constructing a site.
On paper, the plan sounds irresistible: a sprawling campus in Loughton, Essex, bristling with Nvidia’s most sought-after GPUs, drawing 50 megawatts of power at launch and eventually scaling to 90. The backers are world-class too. Nvidia itself has written a cheque, joined by Nokia, Fidelity, Dell and the Norwegian energy investor Aker. These are not casual angels taking a punt — they are institutions with reputations to protect. Which makes the leap of faith in Payne all the more striking.
From Crypto Hustler to AI Power Broker
What explains that confidence? In part, it is desperation. Demand for AI compute is at fever pitch. The training of the world’s most advanced models requires specialised chips in the tens of thousands, and those chips are scarce. Whoever can secure land, power, and silicon first has a chance to control the gateways to the next stage of the digital economy. Investors understand that scarcity breeds opportunity, and Nscale has positioned itself as Britain’s best chance of seizing it.
Payne’s personal story complicates the picture. His past lies not in cloud computing or semiconductors but in the gritty, often controversial business of crypto mining. Through Arkon Energy, he learned to chase cheap electricity and string together networks of servers designed for one blunt purpose: to churn out Bitcoin. The skill set overlaps with AI infrastructure — both are voracious consumers of power and cooling — but the stakes are wildly different. Bitcoin rigs could crash without consequence beyond an angry Telegram group. An AI data centre that is expected to power national research and government systems cannot afford that luxury.
Why Britain is Backing Payne’s Gamble
This is why critics mutter that the UK is taking a dangerous risk. It is one thing to dream of becoming an “AI superpower,” as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak likes to put it. It is quite another to entrust that ambition to an untested startup with foreign roots. Nscale brands itself as British, but its ownership ties to Arkon in Australia blur that sovereignty. In an era where data is as political as oil, who controls the infrastructure matters as much as whether it gets built.
Then there is the question of power. Ninety megawatts is not plucked from thin air — it is roughly the output of a small power station. Britain’s grid is already under strain, caught between the push for electrification and the slow build-out of renewables. To siphon that much electricity into a single site raises uncomfortable questions about priorities. Does the UK truly want to divert the energy of a small city into GPUs, even if those GPUs might accelerate medical research or climate modelling? The environmental scrutiny that dogged Bitcoin mining will inevitably return in sharper form here.
Yet it would be wrong to dismiss Payne’s play as reckless. There is a certain ruthless logic to it. Britain does not have the luxury of waiting for Microsoft, Google or Amazon to scatter a few more server farms on its soil. The US has poured billions into frontier AI compute, China is racing ahead with state-backed clusters, and Europe has its own champions in France and Germany. Without a bold, perhaps even risky bet, the UK risks permanent relegation to the second tier of the AI age. Payne has simply stepped into the vacuum, offering a homegrown vehicle for capital and government policy to rally around.
Visionary Leap or Billion-Pound Misstep?
Opinion is already dividing. Supporters argue that Payne’s scrappy outsider background is exactly what Britain needs: someone willing to move fast, ignore the sceptics and gamble on scale. The alternative, they say, is paralysis by committee — the fate of many UK tech projects that drown in planning delays and bureaucratic caution. Detractors see something more troubling: a familiar pattern of over-promising entrepreneurs raising vast sums on the back of hype cycles, leaving others to pick up the pieces when ambition collides with reality.
The truth likely lies somewhere in between. Payne has charisma, capital and connections that most entrepreneurs would kill for. He also has the biggest target on his back of any founder in the UK. Delivering a project of this magnitude will require flawless execution, deft political handling, and above all time — time that the AI arms race may not grant him.
For now, Nscale is the boldest bet in Britain’s technology landscape. If Payne pulls it off, he will have transformed from a crypto hustler into the man who gave the UK its AI backbone. If he fails, the story will be written very differently: as a cautionary tale about how national ambition was outsourced to a startup with more swagger than substance.
Key Takeaway:
Josh Payne’s £750m raise is more than just another funding headline. It is a test case for Britain’s AI ambitions, exposing the fine line between visionary leadership and dangerous overreach.
FAQs About Nscale and Josh Payne
Who is Josh Payne?
Josh Payne is a British-born entrepreneur who previously ran Arkon Energy, a Bitcoin mining company. In 2024 he founded Nscale, an AI infrastructure startup that has now raised £750m to build Britain’s largest AI data centre.
What is Nscale building?
Nscale is developing a vast AI data campus in Loughton, Essex. The site is planned to launch with 50 megawatts of power and scale up to 90, housing tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs for AI research and commercial workloads.
Why is Nscale controversial?
Critics argue that Nscale has never completed a data centre build, raising doubts about execution. Others worry about its Australian ownership links, the strain its power use could place on the UK grid, and whether the hype outpaces the company’s ability to deliver.
When will the Loughton site be operational?
Construction is expected to begin in 2026. Nscale has not given a firm completion date, but industry analysts say projects of this size typically take several years before they are fully online.
Is Nscale really a British company?
Nscale is headquartered in the UK, but its ties to Arkon Energy in Australia have prompted questions about whether the infrastructure is truly sovereign. This debate is at the heart of the scrutiny over the project.
