Nscale’s $35 billion IPO is largely silent about its biggest customer, China’s ByteDance, which wants access to Nvidia’s chips

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Nscale’s $35 billion IPO is heavily dependent on ByteDance’s access to Nvidia’s chips

ByteDance—TikTok's Chinese corporate parent—accounted for 73% of Nscale’s revenue in 2025, the Financial Times reported today. The company’s S-1 IPO filing discloses that it generated $33 million in revenue that year and an additional $140.6 million through the first half of 2026. During the more recent period, Nscale’s largest customer provided 52% of the company’s revenue.

Since then, the company has signed agreements with Microsoft (worth $43.8 billion through December 2033) and Anthropic (worth $44.6 billion over an unspecified period of time).

The S-1, however, doesn’t mention ByteDance at all. 

Rather, the information can be found in Exhibit 10.9 to a September 2025 “draft registration statement” disclosing a loan from Macquarie, the investment bank. The loan was secured based on Nscale’s customer contracts, specifically citing a client named “Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd., a company incorporated and registered in Singapore with company number 202325236K and its registered office at 1 Raffles Quay, #26-10, South Tower, Singapore 048583.”

Spring is a subsidiary of ByteDance. The FT said:

“ByteDance used Nscale’s cloud facility in Norway to access Nvidia chips that it would otherwise have been unable to buy in China, exploiting a loophole in US trade restrictions, according to filings. … The arrangement is entirely legal but exposes companies such as Nscale to regulatory and reputational risks, at a time when the U.S. and China are engaged in a high-stakes race to dominate the fast-growing technology.”

Nscale warns in its S-1 that its business is highly dependent on a small number of customers. “A substantial portion of our revenue is driven by a limited number of our customers, and the loss of, or a significant reduction in, spend from one or a few of our top customers would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects,” the S-1 says.

The company also disclosed $56.4 billion in “remaining performance obligations” (future contracts where revenue has not yet been paid) and $103 billion in “total contract........

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