The grid set the opening date

The most important document in Britain’s AI strategy this week is a connection offer from an electricity network.

What happened. Microsoft has ended its agreement to be part of Nscale’s planned data centre at Loughton in Essex^1,2. Ministers had promoted the site when they launched the UK’s AI strategy in 2025, calling it the “largest UK sovereign AI datacentre”¹. It was meant to open next year¹. Microsoft was expected to be the anchor tenant and was Nscale’s only publicly announced customer for the site¹. The BBC reports that Microsoft had said it would fund a supercomputer there, and only last month it linked part of its $30bn UK investment to it². Microsoft declined to comment to the BBC².

Why. According to the Guardian, UK Power Networks, which runs the grid in London and the south-east, told Nscale earlier this month that it could not supply enough power until the early-to-mid 2030s¹. The BBC says the site had expected power at the end of this year². Nscale calls it “this unfortunate London-wide grid issue”. It says it is “exploring alternative power sources for the site” and that its relationship with Microsoft “remains strong and long-term”^1,2. The two companies still work together in Norway, Portugal and the United States².

What it costs. Nscale is backed by Nvidia and hoped to list in New York this year at a possible valuation of $35bn, according to the Guardian¹. The site’s planned 250 permanent jobs now wait for the grid².

Desk reading. This is not a story about weak demand for AI. It is a story about a slow queue for connections. Announcements count chips, but the date a site goes live depends on transformers, cables and the network operator’s queue. Those are dull institutions, and they hold the most power in this business. If you want to know when Europe’s AI capacity will really arrive, read the connection offers, not the press releases.