UK-based artificial intelligence infrastructure provider Nscale has secured $1.1 billion in a Series B funding round, marking the largest such investment in UK and European history. The financing was led by Norwegian investment company Aker ASA, with continued support from existing shareholders including Sandton Capital, and participation from Blue Owl Managed Funds, Dell, Fidelity Management & Research Company, G Squared, Nokia, NVIDIA, Point72 and T.Capital.

The oversubscribed funding round will accelerate Nscale's expansion across Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The capital injection follows recent announcements of Nscale's UK AI infrastructure commitment with Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI, as well as the Nscale-Aker ASA joint venture that includes Stargate Norway and a multi-billion-dollar agreement with Microsoft. The company plans to use the funds to roll out its "AI factory" data centers for projects like Stargate UK and Stargate Norway.

Aker ASA injected $285 million in cash and assets, taking a 9.3% stake in Nscale, with a potential future earn-out that could increase Aker's ownership to 12.2%. The Norwegian group also noted that its 50% stake in the Aker-Narvik joint venture can be converted into additional Nscale shares at a future initial public offering. This significant investment comes as OpenAI announced in July it would build its first European data center in Norway's Arctic city of Narvik, jointly with Nscale and Aker.

Headquartered in the UK and operating globally, Nscale provides vertically integrated computing, networking, storage, managed software, and AI services delivered through its owned and collocated data centers. The company's full-stack, GPU-first model positions it to capitalize on the growing demand for AI-native infrastructure as industries worldwide accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.

The UK government has announced sweeping changes to its asylum system, eliminating automatic settlement rights and family reunification for refugees granted protection in Britain. Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlined the reforms ahead of his attendance at the European Political Community Summit in Copenhagen, where he will co-chair discussions on innovative approaches to tackling illegal migration. The fundamental policy shift represents the government's attempt to balance protection for genuine refugees with stronger border controls.

Under the new system, migrants granted asylum will no longer receive automatic resettlement rights or the ability to bring family members to join them in the UK. The government suspended new family reunion applications at the beginning of September as part of these changes, with Home Office figures showing almost 21,000 refugee family reunion visas were issued in the year to June 2025. The vast majority of these visas had been granted to women and children seeking to join family members already in Britain.

The reforms aim to create what the government describes as a "fairer system where the route to settlement should be longer, and be earned via contribution to the country." Prime Minister Starmer emphasized that "there will be no golden ticket to settling in the UK—people will have to earn it." The changes are designed to reduce what officials term "pull factors" that they believe encourage migrants to attempt dangerous Channel crossings rather than seek protection in other safe countries they pass through.

These policy announcements come alongside preparations for additional measures, including potential army-built migrant camps to replace costly hotel accommodations. Logistics teams with experience building barracks in war zones are developing plans to quickly establish facilities on government land. The government views providing less comfortable housing as a key deterrent to stopping record numbers of small boat crossings, with cross-government efforts being ramped up to close migrant hotels ahead of the previous 2029 deadline.