Tech in Asia, relaying a report from October 18, said Microsoft ended its agreement with Nscale, a British cloud and AI infrastructure firm. The deal was for a data center in Loughton, Essex. The report cited a series of delays to the project. It also said grid officials saw no power reaching the site before the 2030s. Microsoft declined to comment.
The report listed the delays and the grid timeline but did not say which, if either, drove Microsoft's decision. Nscale said its bond with Microsoft is strong and long term. It said the London-wide grid problem leaves its other contracts untouched. The firm said it still backs Loughton and is weighing other power sources. Last month Nscale filed for a US IPO, and its prospectus named Microsoft and Anthropic as expected major customers.
This is analysis, not part of the report. A large data center needs a grid connection that can supply its power, so a wait into the 2030s would leave a built site unable to run. Power may be linked to the delays, but the report does not say so. Buyers of UK cloud capacity can ask providers where the power comes from, when it is confirmed, and what the fallback is.