Nscale and Microsoft Collaborate to Deliver 1.35GW of NVIDIA GPUs at West Virginia AI Campus

The partnership will establish the Monarch Compute Campus as a global flagship deployment of NVIDIA's Vera Rubin architecture.

Mar. 17, 2026 at 2:20am

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Nscale has signed a letter of intent with Microsoft to provide 1.35 gigawatts of AI compute capacity, setting up the West Virginia Monarch AI campus as a global flagship deployment of NVIDIA's next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs. Nscale has also acquired the Monarch Compute Campus, which includes the United States' first state-certified AI microgrid with a power runway scalable to over eight gigawatts. The collaboration with Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Caterpillar will create one of the largest dedicated AI compute installations in the world.

Why it matters

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in the development of large-scale AI infrastructure in the United States. The Monarch Compute Campus has the potential to become a cornerstone facility for next-generation AI training and inference capacity, addressing the growing demand for AI-related data center capacity that is currently constrained by the pace of new power and capacity coming online.

The details

Under the collaboration, Nscale will construct and operate advanced AI data center infrastructure to host the large-scale GPU deployment based on NVIDIA's Vera Rubin NVL72 GPUs. The deployment will be delivered across multiple tranches beginning in late 2027. Nscale will also deploy Caterpillar G3500 series natural gas generator sets at sufficient scale to achieve two gigawatts of power generation by the first half of 2028, powering the NVIDIA Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design.

  • The collaboration with Microsoft and deployment of NVIDIA Vera Rubin GPUs will begin in late 2027.
  • Nscale plans to achieve two gigawatts of power generation from Caterpillar generator sets by the first half of 2028.

The players

Nscale

A company building global hyperscale infrastructure engineered for AI.

Microsoft

A multinational technology company that is partnering with Nscale on the AI compute deployment.

NVIDIA

A leading technology company that is providing its Vera Rubin GPUs and DSX AI Factory reference design for the project.

Caterpillar

A multinational corporation that is collaborating with Nscale to deploy its G3500 series natural gas generator sets to power the AI infrastructure.

Monarch Compute Campus

A site in West Virginia that Nscale has acquired, which includes the United States' first state-certified AI microgrid with a power runway scalable to over eight gigawatts.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“This collaboration with Microsoft marks a pivotal milestone both for Nscale and the development of the Monarch Campus. By integrating our specialized AI infrastructure with Microsoft's global platform, we are creating a foundation for innovation that can scale alongside the most ambitious AI models in the world.”

— Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale

“Microsoft's datacenter approach is to build the best global infrastructure informed by near-term and long-term demand. Our investments blend owned datacenters, leased facilities, and strategic collaborations. This collaboration with Nscale and NVIDIA is an important step to deliver meaningful AI innovation to our customers.”

— Jon Tinter, President, Business Development and Ventures at Microsoft

“AI is becoming essential infrastructure for every industry. With this large-scale NVIDIA DSX AI Factory Blueprint, Nscale is building the infrastructure required to produce intelligence at industrial scale and power the next wave of global innovation.”

— Nico Caprez, Vice President, Global AI Infrastructure Growth, NVIDIA

“This collaboration reflects Caterpillar and our dealers' continued focus on supporting customers that require primary, continuous-duty power at scale through our broad energy solutions portfolio. Projects like Monarch demonstrate how Caterpillar's natural gas generation platforms are being deployed as core infrastructure for data centers and other power intensive applications where reliability, speed of deployment, and lifecycle performance are critical.”

— Melissa Busen, Senior Vice President of Electric Power, Caterpillar

What’s next

The deployment of the NVIDIA Vera Rubin GPUs and Caterpillar generator sets at the Monarch Compute Campus is expected to begin in late 2027 and continue through the first half of 2028.

The takeaway

This collaboration between Nscale, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Caterpillar represents a significant investment in building the infrastructure necessary to support the growing demand for large-scale AI compute capacity in the United States. The Monarch Compute Campus has the potential to become a crucial hub for next-generation AI innovation and development.