Microsoft Exits Nscale UK AI Data Centre Deal [2026]

Microsoft has walked away from its agreement with British cloud provider Nscale for what was billed as the United Kingdom’s largest artificial intelligence data centre, a project planned for Loughton, Essex. The withdrawal, first reported October 18, 2026 by the BBC and The Information, lands at a moment when Canadian AI infrastructure watchers are asking the same question UK officials are now facing: what happens to a flagship AI compute project when the power grid cannot keep up with the chips.