UK-based AI cloud Nscale has signed an agreement to acquire American Intelligence & Power Corporation, including its up to 8GW Monarch Compute Campus in West Virginia.

Confirming previous reports, the company has also signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Microsoft that will see the tech giant leasing 1.35GW of AI compute capacity from Nscale at the site. Letters of intent are generally not legally binding.

AIP was founded at the start of 2026, a joint venture between Fidelis New Energy and 8090 Industries. The campus, dubbed Monach Compute Campus, spans 2,250 acres in Mason County, West Virginia, and is planned to have up to 8GW of capacity.

The first phase will offer 2GW, expected online by 2028 according to Nscale. Caterpillar previously agreed to provide the necessary fast-response natural gas generator sets – the Caterpillar G3500 series – to cover the first 2GW. Caterpillar will deploy the gen-sets by the first half of 2028.

The full 8GW is hoped to be reached in 2031.

Nscale has said it plans to build “one of the world’s largest AI Factories” on the site. As per the LOI signed with Microsoft, Nscale is to set up a large-scale GPU deployment of 1.35GW at the Monarch Compute Campus based on the Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 GPUs.

Vera is the successor to Nvidia’s Grace CPU, while Rubin succeeds Blackwell. Nvidia claims Rubin will be capable of achieving 5x and 3.5x of inference and training performance, respectively, compared to Blackwell.

The Vera Rubin NVL72 rack also differs from previous generations in that it will be 100 percent liquid-cooled and feature cable‑free modular tray designs, which Nvidia claims will allow installation times to be reduced from two hours to five minutes, in comparison to its Blackwell equivalent.

Nscale’s deployment for Microsoft will be conducted in multiple tranches, beginning in late 2027. The infrastructure will operate under a long-term framework that includes multi-year compute services, alongside a long-term data center lease structure.

“This collaboration with Microsoft marks a pivotal milestone both for Nscale and the development of the Monarch Campus,” said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. “By integrating our specialized AI infrastructure with Microsoft’s global platform, we are creating a foundation for innovation that can scale alongside the most ambitious AI models in the world.”

“Microsoft’s data center approach is to build the best global infrastructure informed by near-term and long-term demand,” said Jon Tinter, president of business development and Ventures at Microsoft. “Our investments blend owned data centers, leased facilities, and strategic collaborations. This collaboration with Nscale and Nvidia is an important step to deliver meaningful AI innovation to our customers.”

The Monarch Compute Campus will initially be powered by an on-site microgrid, but will have the opportunity to tie in to the grid to offer power back. Nscale has also said it is exploring carbon sequestration to offset emissions at the site.

Through the acquisition of AIP, the AIP team and Fidelis New Energy Organization will be joining Nscale’s “Nscale Energy & Power.” This is hoped to help support the development of the Monarch Compute Campus.

”Nscale is a global company, and the US is the world’s largest AI infrastructure market. AI infrastructure needs to be built where demand is, and right now a significant share of that demand is in the United States,” said Payne. “Monarch allows us to meet that demand. The acquisition builds on our existing US footprint and reflects the pace at which we are scaling to serve customers around the world.”

“The vision for AIPCorp was always to build the vertically integrated power-and-compute model that this combination achieves instantly. This combination – plus Nscale’s disciplined balance sheet – delivers exactly what the high-growth AI market demands: a debottlenecked, integrated neocloud platform built to scale,” added Daniel Shapiro, CEO at AIP, and now chief power officer at Nscale Energy & Power.

The acquisition saw Nscale turn to Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC. as financial advisor, while Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel. Greenhill, a Mizuho affiliate, acted as exclusive financial advisor to AIPCorp, and Vinson & Elkins LLP served as legal counsel to Fidelis New Energy.