Consultancy firm Accenture and AI cloud firm Nscale have both acquired data center design firms.

Accenture acquires DLB

Consultancy giant Accenture this week signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake (65 percent) in US-based AI data center engineering and consulting firm DLB Associates and its affiliated companies.

Terms of the deal were not shared.

The firm said the deal will expand its end-to-end data center capabilities in order to help software and platforms and high-tech clients accelerate time to market.

Founded in 1980, DLB offers services around data center site selection, due diligence, design engineering, commissioning, construction quality management, and energy optimization services.

DLB’s approximately 620 employees, led by David Quirk and Neil Chauhan, will join Accenture‘s Industry X practice.

“As AI-driven demand for data center capacity accelerates, our clients increasingly face infrastructure constraints that impact their core value chains,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture. “Along with DLB’s deep expertise, Accenture will offer an end-to-end capability from the earliest stages of conceptual design and strategic site development through to advanced engineering, rapid deployment, and operational performance. This approach will ensure our clients can meet the ever-increasing demands of AI with speed, scale, and reliability.”

Accenture has made a number of acquisitions since 2023 to expand its data center and infrastructure capabilities. These include US advisory and management company Anser Advisory and Canadian consulting and program management company Comtech, data center construction consultancy Soben in the UK, BOSLAN in Spain, Partners in Performance in Australia, IQT Group in Italy, and Orlade in France.

“The data center industry is experiencing significant growth amid an unprecedented push for scaling, and DLB is at the forefront of helping clients quickly navigate every stage of the development lifecycle,” added David Quirk, CEO, DLB. “We selected Accenture to unleash our ability to match that scale and help support clients through value creation and joint ideation for next-generation AI data center – at pace.”

Nscale acquires Future-tech

This week saw AI cloud and data center firm Nscale acquire European construction advisory firm Future-tech.

Terms of the deal weren’t shared.

Future-tech provides data center design, build, and management services. Around 60 staff will be joining Nscale, which said the deal will help the cloud firm execute its build-outs faster.

“Future-tech has spent decades designing and building data centers, solving real engineering challenges for customers,” said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. “Their team has impressed me with their ability to deliver quality work, quickly, and at scale. By bringing that expertise into Nscale, we’re able to move more quickly on behalf of our customers around the world.”

Nscale was formed in May 2024, spun out from cryptomining firm Arkon Energy. Investment firm Aker invested 2.8 billion kroner ($274 million) in the company in September 2025, making it one of the largest shareholders.

James Wilman, CEO of Future-tech said, “Joining Nscale is a natural next step for Future-tech. We see firsthand how fast AI is changing the requirements for data centres, and Nscale is one of the companies truly out in front of that wave. It’s an exciting time to be part of a business making major moves in AI infrastructure globally. By combining our specialist engineering and delivery capability with Nscale’s scale and ambition, we can do even more for our shared customers in the years ahead.”

‍Nscale operates a 30MW data center in Glomfjord Industrial Park, Norway, with plans to double capacity to 60MW. The firm is planning another development in Fauske and Narvik, Norway, and London, UK.

The company is also leasing capacity from Verne in Iceland, Start Campus in Portugal, and Ionic Digital in Texas, with much of the capacity due to go to Microsoft and OpenAI.