Aker shares rose 8.2% after its portfolio company Nscale secured a $45 billion agreement to provide AI computing capacity. Nokia shares also gained as investors responded to the deal, highlighting growing demand for AI infrastructure.
Shares in Norwegian investment group Aker rose sharply on Thursday after its portfolio company Nscale secured a $45 billion agreement to provide artificial intelligence computing capacity, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Aker shares gained 8.2% in early European trading, while Nokia shares rose 4.9% in Helsinki, as investors reacted to the agreement and its potential implications for the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market.
Nscale, a U.K. based AI infrastructure company, will provide computing capacity at its Monarch site in West Virginia, United States. Reuters reported that the agreement is a six-year arrangement involving about 460 megawatts of power capacity.
The customer was not initially identified in the Wall Street Journal report. Reuters and the Financial Times subsequently reported that the customer is Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot. Anthropic plans to spend about $45 billion to rent computing capacity from Nscale as it expands its infrastructure to meet demand for its AI products.
Nscale plans to use Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips to support Anthropic's computing requirements, according to Reuters. The agreement forms part of Anthropic's broader effort to secure large amounts of computing capacity as it expands its AI operations.
Aker is a major investor in Nscale. In March, Aker increased its expected ownership in Nscale to about 23.9% on a fully diluted basis, making it the company's largest shareholder after a restructuring involving Aker's Nscale joint venture.
Nscale has attracted investment from several major technology and financial companies, including Nvidia, Dell and Nokia. The company raised $1.1 billion in a 2025 funding round led by Aker, according to Nscale and Reuters.
The deal underscores the enormous investment required to support the next generation of AI systems, as companies race to secure access to advanced chips, data centers and electricity capacity.
For Aker and its investors, the agreement also highlights the potential value of its growing exposure to AI infrastructure as demand for computing capacity continues to accelerate.
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