Nscale’s planned Loughton AI campus was announced with an initial 50 MW of capacity and 23,040 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs targeted for delivery in Q1 2027. But reports in September 2026 said the site might not have enough grid electricity until the early to mid-2030s. That timeline has not been confirmed publicly by UK Power Networks (UKPN), and it is not a revised official opening date.
What was planned for Loughton?
Nscale and Microsoft announced the Loughton campus on September 16, 2025. Nscale described it as the UK’s largest AI supercomputer when it goes live, not as an already operating facility. The company planned 50 MW of initial AI capacity, scalable to 90 MW, and 23,040 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs for delivery in Q1 2027. It said the site would support Microsoft Azure services across the UK. These were announced plans, not confirmation that the GPUs had arrived or that the campus had opened. Nscale’s announcement.
The same release described up to 58,640 GPUs planned across UK deployments and a 300,000-GPU global ambition. Those figures covered Nscale’s wider plans, not the Loughton site alone. Nscale described the campus design as high-density, with direct-liquid cooling, fibre connectivity, and plans for waste-heat and water reuse; those are design features, not evidence of an operating data centre. Nscale’s AI infrastructure page.
What is the reported delay?
On September 24, 2026, The Guardian reported that UKPN had reportedly told Nscale that sufficient electricity might not be available until the mid-2030s. On September 29, Euronews reported a similar early-to-mid-2030s timeline. Both outlets attributed the original disclosure to the Morning Intelligence newsletter. UKPN has not publicly confirmed a Loughton-specific connection date, and no reviewed primary document sets a revised opening date. The Guardian’s report; Euronews’ report.
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The reports said Nscale remained committed to the project and was examining on-site generation and ways to accelerate the connection. They do not establish a selected generation technology, a secured interim power supply, or an implementation schedule. The reports also do not set new dates for construction, GPU delivery, commissioning, or Azure service launch. The 2027 date in Nscale’s original announcement was a GPU delivery target, not an independently confirmed opening date.
Why can’t the grid supply the data centre yet?
The available explanation is about a distinction between local distribution connections and the wider national transmission network. UKPN declined to comment on the individual project. In a general statement quoted by The Guardian, a spokesperson said: “In general, many datacentres, whilst they will connect to our distribution network, are awaiting works on the wider national electricity transmission network before they can begin operation.” The Guardian’s report.
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In other words, a connection to local distribution infrastructure does not necessarily mean enough electricity can be delivered to run a large data centre: transmission-network works may also be needed. The public explanation does not identify Loughton’s specific technical bottleneck, the required works, or when they will be completed.
How does Loughton fit into the UK connection queue?
The delay reports come amid wider pressure on electricity connections. The UK government said demand connection applications had grown 460% in the six months to June 2025, and that some projects faced waits of up to 15 years. These are national figures, not evidence of Loughton’s position in a queue or the reason for its reported timeline. The government announced proposals to address speculative applications and prioritise projects it considers strategically important. UK government announcement.
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Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “Industries that can bring real economic benefits are ready and waiting to be powered up, but the queue for grid connections has grown exponentially due to speculative applications.” The national queue context helps explain why connection timing is a constraint for major new loads, but it does not independently verify the reported date for this campus.
Could flexible power use help?
A separate National Grid trial suggests that some data-centre computing demand can be reduced temporarily during periods of system stress. In a December 2025 demonstration involving a 96-GPU cluster, software cut demand by up to 40%; during a simulated stress event, the cluster shed 30% of its load in roughly 30 seconds and followed load-reduction requests for up to 10 hours. National Grid described the results in a March 2026 release. National Grid’s trial release.
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That is a demand-flexibility demonstration, not a solution announced for Loughton. It does not establish that Nscale uses the system, that the site could operate without its required connection, or that flexibility would bring its grid power forward. It shows one possible way to adjust computing load, not a substitute for the transmission and distribution capacity the campus needs.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is this the same as Stargate UK?
No. The Loughton campus is Nscale’s Microsoft-linked project. Stargate UK is a separate multi-site partnership involving Nscale, NVIDIA and OpenAI. OpenAI said it would explore taking up to 8,000 GPUs in Q1 2026, potentially scaling to 31,000 over time. That separate plan does not establish that the Loughton site has power or that its schedule has changed. OpenAI’s Stargate UK announcement.
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