UK data centre giant removed evidence of China deal ahead of $35bn listing
UK data centre giant removed evidence of China deal ahead of $35bn listing
Matt FieldSat, October 10, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC
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Nscale runs data centres in the UK, US and Norway, including this one in Glomfjord, on the edge of the Arctic Circle
A British AI champion removed references to its relationship with the Chinese technology giant Bytedance from official filings before a planned $35bn (£26bn) public listing on Wall Street.
Nscale, which counts Sir Nick Clegg as a board member, initially included details of a deal with Bytedance in a confidential document disclosed to US regulators earlier this year.
However, in official filings published last month, Nscale removed mentions of Bytedance, one of its biggest customers, which has long faced scrutiny from US politicians.
Nscale, which is backed by Nvidia, has been racing towards a New York float expected to value it at $35bn.
Founded two years ago by Josh Payne, a former coal miner, the business has emerged as a major player in the race to power AI by building data centres around the world. In addition to Sir Nick, Sheryl Sandberg, the former Meta executive, is a director.
A deal between Nscale and Bytedance had long been rumoured, but not formally acknowledged by the company.
Bytedance, which is headquartered in China, previously controlled TikTok. It was forced to sell its majority stake in the business in January on national security grounds in a deal pushed through by Donald Trump.
Nscale’s final 192-page prospectus, published in September, makes no mention of Bytedance. However, earlier draft filings confidentially submitted to regulators and only published in recent weeks confirm the extent of its links to the Beijing-based tech giant.
A filing in February states: “For the year ended December 31, 2025, our largest customer was Bytedance.”
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The filing was for DSNS Holdings, a holding company later renamed Nscale. The filing reports Bytedance was its primary customer at a Norwegian data centre, where it rents access to powerful Nvidia AI chips.
References to Bytedance were removed from all of Nscale’s later draft submissions and its final public registration document.
It is understood the name was removed for commercial confidentiality reasons. Bytedance is no longer Nscale’s biggest customer, after the data centre company signed major deals with Microsoft and Anthropic.
However, the revelations about the extent of its dealings with the China-headquartered business could draw fresh scrutiny.
US officials have sought to block China from accessing Nvidia’s most powerful AI chips because of national security fears.
However, companies such as Nscale can allow Chinese businesses to rent access to these processors at data centres overseas. While this is allowed under current trade rules, analysts have warned the US could seek to close the loophole.
In its February filing, Nscale admitted a proposed US law, the Remote Access Security Act, could put “restrictions on our ability to provide remote access to these customers, which would have a negative effect on our business”.
In one obscure letter filed alongside its initial public offering documents, Nscale disclosed a deal with Spring, a Singaporean company understood to be a subsidiary of ByteDance.
Nscale declined to comment. Bytedance was contacted for comment.
Source: “AOL Money”
