Nscale is adding another executive with public-market experience as the AI infrastructure company prepares for a possible Wall Street debut.
Former OpenAI executive Fidji Simo has joined Nscale’s board of directors, bringing experience that includes taking Instacart public in 2023. Her appointment comes as Nscale reportedly considers an IPO and rapidly expands the data center and computing capacity behind its AI infrastructure business.
Simo most recently served as CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, where she led product and business teams responsible for bringing the company’s research to users. She left the role in July and continues to advise OpenAI part-time.
“I’ve seen firsthand that access to compute can determine how fast companies can turn AI breakthroughs into products used by millions of people,” Simo said in a statement released by Nscale.
Her previous experience includes leading Instacart as CEO and chair through its 2023 public listing. Before that, she spent more than a decade at Meta, including as head of the Facebook app. She also sits on Shopify’s board.
A board built for scale
Simo most recently served as CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, overseeing product and business teams responsible for bringing the company’s research to users. She left the full-time role in July and continues to advise OpenAI part-time.
Her public-market experience may be particularly relevant for Nscale. Simo led Instacart as CEO and chair through its 2023 listing and previously spent more than a decade at Meta, including as head of the Facebook app. She also serves on Shopify’s board.
“Very few leaders understand what products at that scale demand of the systems underneath them,” Payne said in Nscale’s announcement.
The company has been rapidly expanding its infrastructure business. Nscale has agreed to a roughly $45 billion computing-capacity deal with Anthropic and is developing a large data center campus in Norway for Microsoft, Bloomberg reported. It also agreed to acquire AI workload software company Anyscale over the summer.
Nscale is reportedly targeting an IPO as soon as this month. Adding executives who have already navigated public listings gives the company more public-market experience just as investors are likely to scrutinize how quickly its infrastructure commitments can translate into sustainable revenue.
What to watch
The board additions strengthen Nscale’s leadership credentials, but the company still has to turn its growing infrastructure pipeline into durable revenue.
Revenue tied to its Anthropic agreement is not expected to begin until the West Virginia facility comes online at the end of 2027. That leaves execution risk around construction timelines, power availability, customer concentration, and the enormous capital required to bring AI data center capacity online.
For channel partners, the scale of Nscale’s expansion could create opportunities around networking, power, cooling, integration, software, and managed infrastructure services. But an eventual IPO would also put greater pressure on the company to prove that its multibillion-dollar commitments can convert into predictable revenue and margins.
More AI infrastructure news: DeepSeek has tapped CITIC Securities to prepare for a potential Shanghai IPO as the Chinese AI company seeks more capital for computing infrastructure, model development, and talent.