News about Microsoft

Microsoft has dropped a planned Nscale AI data center in Loughton, Essex, after UK Power Networks said enough grid power might not be available until the early-to-mid 2030s. The site was meant to house 23,040 Nvidia chips and deliver 50 megawatts to Microsoft's Azure cloud by early 2027, and Nscale says its other Microsoft contracts remain in place. The article says bitcoin miners moving into AI face heavy costs and slow payoffs: an AI-ready facility can cost $8 million to $15 million per megawatt versus roughly $700,000 to $1 million for mining, and of more than 4 gigawatts of AI capacity under contract, only about 550 megawatts is billing customers. Meanwhile, data center grid connection requests in Britain total about 73 gigawatts, and regulator Ofgem is weighing tougher rules.

NiSource (NYSE: NI) announced a new long-term energy agreement with Microsoft for its northwest Indiana campus, under which new large-load customers are served through NiSource Generation Company LLC (GenCo) in a way designed to shield existing NIPSCO electric customers from incremental costs. The deal builds on previously disclosed expected customer savings of $1.4 billion over the life of data center contracts, raising total expected NIPSCO electric customer savings to approximately $1.75 billion, or as much as $140 per customer annually. Microsoft is expected to begin taking electric service under a 20-year term starting in 2028 and will fully fund the generation and transmission it requires, while the GenCo-owned pool portfolio will grow by about 1,100 MW. GenCo has also contracted 600 MW of battery storage under a long-term tolling agreement, and CEO Lloyd Yates said affordability is not separate from economic development. Further operational and financial details will be shared on the company's third-quarter earnings call.

According to the Telegraph, Microsoft has withdrawn from a planned agreement to be the anchor tenant of Nscale's proposed data centre in Loughton, Essex, though no specific reason was established. The project has faced delays and power supply problems, with authorities reportedly suggesting a grid connection might not come until the 2030s. Nscale's flagship data centre in Norway is also about six months behind schedule, with only 6.4 megawatts of its planned 30-megawatt capacity operational. The setback comes ahead of a possible IPO that could raise as much as $3 billion as early as October, while Microsoft and Anthropic account for about 85% of Nscale's contracts. Nscale says it remains committed to Loughton and that its relationship with Microsoft is strong, while Microsoft has not commented publicly.