Key points
- Figure commits $3.5B to Nscale for compute
- Up to 100,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs
- Microsoft is already deploying GPUs at that site
The humanoid robot maker Figure said Thursday it has signed a compute agreement with Nscale worth $3.5 billion, with plans to scale beyond $6 billion over time. The deal covers up to 100,000 Nvidia (NVDA) Vera Rubin GPUs to train Helix, the model that runs Figure's robots. Deployments are targeted for the second half of 2027 in Barstow, Texas.
Nscale also plans a strategic investment in Figure, and said it will look at using Figure's humanoids to improve supply chain efficiency inside its own data centers. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Nscale chief executive Josh Payne said the company was "excited to partner with Figure as physical intelligence becomes AI's next frontier."
"Our AI model, Helix, becomes more capable the same way every learned system does: with more data and compute," Figure chief executive Brett Adcock said.
How big is $3.5 billion for Figure?
Figure remains privately held. Its September 2025 Series C pushed committed capital above $1 billion and valued the company at $39 billion after the investment.
Figure does not disclose revenue. BMW was an early customer and Figure delivered its first robots to a commercial client in December 2024. Figure has said it plans to ship 100,000 humanoids over the next four years.
So the initial commitment is $3.5 billion of compute against more than $1 billion of capital raised, and the stated ambition runs beyond $6 billion. Figure has not published a revenue figure that would put either number in context. Compute agreements are paid over years rather than up front, and Figure has not said how it intends to fund this one.
What is at the Barstow site already
Barstow sits in Ward County in West Texas, and the 234-megawatt campus there is not Nscale's own building. Nscale leases it from Ionic Digital (IOND), which listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market this year and describes the arrangement in its prospectus.
The lease runs 126 months on triple net terms, which means Nscale carries the rent and the operating costs for the full term whether or not it has customers filling the building. Ionic values the contracted revenue at about $1.95 billion, or about $2.6 billion after the planned expansion.
Those payments are already running. Ionic received a $45.6 million advance in November 2025, monthly fixed rent started in August 2026, and the annual rate reaches $182.5 million once the deployment completes an 18-month ramp.
That capacity is already spoken for. Nscale is deploying about 104,000 Nvidia GB300 GPUs at the site to serve Microsoft (MSFT), Data Center Dynamics reported, with phased delivery to Microsoft starting in the third quarter of 2026.
| Commitment at Ward County | Size | Timing |
|---|
| Nscale lease from Ionic Digital (IOND) | 234 MW, 126 months | Monthly rent from Aug 2026 |
| Microsoft (MSFT) GPU delivery | About 104,000 GB300 | Phased from Q3 2026 |
| Additional capacity Nscale must lease | 89 MW | Expected H2 2027 |
| Microsoft option on additional power | Not specified | From H2 2027 |
| Figure deployment | Up to 100,000 Vera Rubin | From H2 2027 |
What is scheduled at the site for the second half of 2027
The prospectus says the amended lease "contractually obligates Nscale to lease an additional 89 MW of capacity, when such capacity becomes available, at the same price per MW," with expected completion in the second half of 2027.
It also says that "Nscale has granted Microsoft an option for additional power at the Ward County property, if it becomes available, starting in the second half of 2027."
Figure's deployment at Barstow is targeted for the second half of 2027. Nscale has not said how the additional capacity at the site divides between Microsoft's option and Figure's GPUs, and neither company addressed the question in Thursday's announcement.
Why the timing matters for Nscale
Nscale is telling prospective investors it has about $103 billion in contracted revenue ahead of a US listing that could come this month and raise as much as $3 billion, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase running it. We wrote on Wednesday about how that figure compares with what CoreWeave files.
Nscale generated about $33 million of revenue in all of 2025, about $37 million in the first quarter of 2026, and more than $100 million in the second. That is the operating base now signing multibillion-dollar compute agreements.
Its Series C raised $2 billion at a $14.6 billion valuation, and its backers include Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI, Aker, Nokia (NOK), Fidelity and Blue Owl.
A search of EDGAR on Thursday returned no registration statement from the operating company. The Nscale names on file are investment vehicles that hold shares rather than the company itself, so the $103 billion, and now the $3.5 billion, remain figures Nscale has published through announcements rather than in an audited filing. Nscale's disclosed commitments are tracked on our AI infrastructure backlog and RPO tracker, and its other large recent agreement is the $45 billion Anthropic lease in West Virginia.
The announcement gives Figure a path to as many as 100,000 GPUs. It does not yet explain how Figure will fund the $3.5 billion commitment, or how Nscale will accommodate it alongside Microsoft's existing deployment and option at the same property.
