Microsoft will rent data center capacity from Nscale at the Start Campus facility in Sines, Portugal, to expand its AI computing resources.
The project will use Nvidia’s latest Blackwell Ultra GB300 GPUs and is expected to begin operations in early 2026, according to sources.
Microsoft has recently signed similar cloud computing deals with providers such as Coreweave, Nebius, and Nscale in Norway and the UK in response to rising AI demand.
Nscale, a British data center company, raised US$1.1 billion in September 2024, followed by an additional US$433 million, and partnered with Nvidia and OpenAI in the UK.