Analysis
London-based AI infrastructure company Nscale has appointed Fidji Simo to its board of directors as it prepares for an anticipated fall 2026 public offering, Bloomberg reported. Nscale is targeting a $25 billion IPO valuation, well above its current $14.6 billion private mark, and is separately seeking up to $3.5 billion in pre-IPO financing.
Simo most recently served as CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI -- effectively the lab's second-highest-ranking executive -- before departing in July citing health reasons; she continues to advise OpenAI part-time. She joins a Nscale board that already includes former Meta executives Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg, plus Susan Decker.
“She joins a Nscale board that already includes former Meta executives Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg, plus Susan Decker.”
Nscale, founded two years ago, designs, builds and operates data centers serving the AI industry -- the same GPU-cloud category as CoreWeave, Lambda and Crusoe, all of which have similarly used public and pre-IPO capital markets to fund their own capacity buildouts.
A jump from $14.6 billion private to a $25 billion IPO target, roughly 70% higher, mirrors the aggressive re-ratings running through nearly every AI-infrastructure story in this issue, from Microsoft's own data-center expansion plans to Positron AI's chip valuation. Unlike those private marks, Nscale's number will actually be tested by public-market investors within months rather than by the next private round.
What to watch: whether the roughly $3.5 billion in pre-IPO financing closes before the fall listing, and whether Simo's board seat signals any deeper OpenAI-Nscale compute relationship beyond her personal advisory role.