Josh Payne, an Australian entrepreneur and former coal miner, is poised for a substantial financial windfall as his data centre start-up, Nscale, advances toward a potential $35 billion initial public offering (IPO). At 32 years old, Payne’s rapid ascent—from working in a coal mine in Newcastle, Australia, a decade ago, to leading a burgeoning AI infrastructure company—has drawn attention from industry insiders and investors alike.

Payne, who left school at 17 and initially worked in construction before launching a staffing firm in 2017, transitioned into renewable energy and later cryptocurrency mining, founding Arkon Energy in 2019. However, his most significant breakthrough came with the establishment of Nscale in 2024, spun out of Arkon to focus on data centres tailored for AI workloads. Nscale has quickly carved out a place in the competitive cloud computing sector, securing high-profile investment and contracts.

Backed by prominent figures such as Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang and former Meta executives Sheryl Sandberg and Sir Nick Clegg, Nscale has attracted major clients including Microsoft and Anthropic. Its notable $6.2 billion agreement with Microsoft to deploy Nvidia chips at a facility in Norway has been instrumental in raising Nscale’s profile. The company currently operates five active data centres and holds contracts for twelve more.

Despite this rapid growth, Nscale faces challenges. The firm has disclosed “material weaknesses” in its internal financial reporting controls ahead of its planned New York IPO, citing inadequate systems and staffing concerns that it may not fully address in 2026 and 2027. The company also depends heavily on a small number of sizeable contracts, leaving its future somewhat contingent on maintaining these relationships. For instance, Anthropic holds termination rights if Nscale fails to meet its compute power obligations.

Payne’s leadership style, marked by humility and determination, has earned praise from his supporters. Sandberg has likened his vision and execution to that of Mark Zuckerberg, while Nokia CEO Justin Hotard highlighted Payne’s combination of intelligence and reliability. Payne himself has expressed ambitious goals, telling Time magazine in June that he aims to build a “$1 trillion hyperscaler” in the AI infrastructure space.

The UK had previously positioned Nscale as a key player in its AI Growth Zone initiative under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, with plans for a “Stargate UK” data centre. However, that project has been placed on indefinite hold, prompting Nscale to shift its focus more heavily toward the United States.

Payne is part of a new wave of Australian founders benefiting from Nvidia-backed investments in AI technologies. Alongside peers like Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield of Firmus, who are preparing for one of Australia’s largest IPOs, Payne’s trajectory underscores the growing global significance of AI infrastructure and the evolving geopolitical dynamics shaping the sector.