AI data center startup Nscale adds ex-OpenAI exec Fidji Simo to board

Nscale, a U.K.-based AI data center startup, has appointed Fidji Simo, former CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, to its board. Simo, who was effectively the No. 2 executive at the AI lab, left OpenAI in July 2026 citing health reasons, while continuing to advise the company on a part-time basis. She previously served as chair and CEO of Instacart, leading it through its 2023 IPO, and spent more than a decade at Meta, including as head of the Facebook app. She is also a board member at Shopify.

Simo joins a board that already includes Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker and Nick Clegg, as Nscale prepares for a planned IPO in the fall of 2026. The company, founded in 2024, designs, builds and operates AI data centers and has seen its valuation soar amid booming demand for AI infrastructure. According to a Bloomberg report in early September 2026, Nscale is seeking to raise up to $3.5 billion in pre-IPO financing.

Nscale founder and CEO Josh Payne said Simo is one of the few leaders who understand what it takes to scale products used by billions of people and the demands those products place on underlying systems. "That's what we're building for at Nscale," he said in a statement.