"The UK government has set itself an ambitious target of becoming an artificial intelligence (AI) superpower, and this is a position it is seeking to secure by championing the developers of homegrown AI tools and technologies. As the government pithily stated in its January 2025 AI opportunities action plan document: "We must be an AI maker, not just an AI taker: we need companies at the frontier that will be our UK national champions.""
"One company the government certainly seems to be championing to fill that role is AI infrastructure provider Nscale, which has previously described itself as the UK's 'only full stack sovereign AI infrastructure provider'. Since the start of 2025, the company has received passing mentions in various ministerial speeches, building up to its CEO, Josh Payne, being quoted in press releases issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) about the government's ambitious AI agenda. On 16 September 2025, the company was name-checked as 'British firm Nscale' in two government press releases - one detailing its work with ChatGPT creator OpenAI to create sovereign AI compute capacity, and another about its involvement in Microsoft's bid to create the UK's largest AI supercomputer in Loughton, Essex."
"For a company that was, according to Companies House, only incorporated in May 2024, the calibre of its technology collaborators and the high regard the government appears to hold it in is curious to say the least. Especially the latter's trumpeting of the company as a British tech success story, given - as confirmed by Companies House - the majority of its directors are based in the US, and the bulk of its built datacentre infrastructure is in Norway."
UK government aims to become an AI superpower by prioritising domestic developers and promoting frontier companies as national champions. Nscale positions itself as the UK's only full-stack sovereign AI infrastructure provider and has attracted ministerial mentions, CEO citations in DSIT press releases, and name-checks in releases about partnerships with OpenAI and Microsoft's supercomputer bid. The company was incorporated in May 2024. The government's public endorsement contrasts with Companies House records showing most directors are US-based and the majority of built datacentre infrastructure is located in Norway, prompting scrutiny of its domestic credentials.
Read at ComputerWeekly.com
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