The 100,000-GPU cluster is the largest single training cluster announced for Vera Rubin to date. The scale is comparable to OpenAI's largest training cluster (100,000+ H100s in 2024) and xAI's Colossus cluster (200,000 H100s/H200s in 2024-2025). The 100,000-GPU scale is the right size for training a foundation model with 10+ trillion parameters, which is the scale at which Figure's Helix model is targeted.
The cluster will run on NVIDIA AI Enterprise software (the enterprise version of NVIDIA's AI software stack), with Nscale providing the orchestration layer (Kubernetes, observability, multi-tenant management). The combination is the standard enterprise AI cluster stack in 2026-2027.
Helix is Figure's foundation model for humanoid robotics. The model is the AI that controls the Figure 02 humanoid robot (the second-generation robot that Figure has been developing since 2024):
| Component | Spec / Approach |
|---|
| Model type | Multimodal foundation model (vision + language + proprioception) |
| Training data | Massive video + sensor + teleoperation dataset from Figure's robot fleet |
| Architecture | Vision Transformer + sensor encoder + action decoder (Helix architecture, announced Feb 2025) |
| Parameter count | Target 10T+ parameters (trillion-parameter scale, comparable to GPT-4 class models) |
| Training compute | Multi-month training runs on 50,000-100,000 GPU cluster |
| Deployment | Edge inference on the humanoid robot (real-time control, low-latency) |
| Commercial use | Manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, retail; targeting the "humanoid in every home" market |
Helix is the second generation of Figure's foundation model (the first was the February 2024 Helix V1, which was a smaller-scale model trained on Figure's robot fleet data). The new Helix is the larger-scale version that Figure is targeting for commercial deployment in 2027-2028. The 100,000-GPU compute commitment is sized for the larger-scale Helix training, which is the most compute-intensive AI training run in the humanoid-robotics industry.
The "physical AI" framing is the strategic context. Physical AI is the AI that controls physical systems (humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, robots in factories) rather than information systems (chatbots, search, content generation). The training requires massive video + sensor + teleoperation datasets, which Figure has been collecting since 2023. The compute requirement for physical AI training is comparable to (and in some cases higher than) the compute requirement for LLM training, because the multimodal data and the action-decoder architecture are more compute-intensive than pure-text training.
The commercial target — "humanoid in every home" — is the long-term thesis. The near-term commercial deployments are in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and retail, where the humanoid can perform repetitive physical tasks. The home deployment is the long-term horizon, requiring safety, reliability, and cost reductions that the 2026 generation of humanoids is not yet ready for.
The Strategic Investment Component
The Nscale strategic investment in Figure is the unusual part of the deal:
| Component | Detail |
|---|
| Amount | Undisclosed; estimated $50-200 million based on Nscale funding history and Figure last round ($1.9B) |
| Form | Equity (preferred shares) |
| Strategic value | Aligns Nscale and Figure for the multi-year term; gives Nscale upside if Figure becomes the leading humanoid company |
| Comparable deals | Microsoft-OpenAI (OpenAI equity), AWS-Anthropic (Anthropic investment, multi-billion), Google-Anthropic (Anthropic investment, multi-billion) |
The strategic investment pattern is the same one that has been used in the major AI compute deals of 2024-2026: the compute provider takes an equity stake in the AI company, which aligns incentives and reduces the effective compute cost. The Microsoft-OpenAI deal was the first major example; the AWS-Anthropic and Google-Anthropic deals followed in 2024-2025. The Figure-Nscale deal is the first major humanoid-robotics example.
The strategic investment is also the most leveraged position for Nscale. If Figure becomes the leading humanoid-robotics company (a $1+ trillion market opportunity by 2030), the equity stake is worth tens of billions. If Figure does not, the equity stake is the lower-bound loss for Nscale. The expected value calculation is heavily skewed to the upside, which is the right shape for an equity-as-part-of-compute-deal.
The estimated investment amount of $50-200 million is based on Nscale's funding history (Nscale raised $1.4B in 2024-2025) and Figure's last round ($1.9B in February 2025 at a $10B+ valuation). A $100 million strategic investment would represent roughly 1% of Figure's post-money valuation, which is in the typical range for a strategic investment in a Series A-E company.
What This Means for the Humanoid Robotics Race
The deal positions Figure at the front of the humanoid-robotics compute race. The competitive context:
| Company | Latest model | Compute commitment (2026-2027) | Target deployment |
|---|
| Figure AI | Helix (Feb 2025, scaling to 10T+ params) | 100,000 NVIDIA Vera Rubin (this deal) | Manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, home (long-term) |
| Tesla Optimus | Optimus Gen 2 (internal training on Tesla Dojo + NVIDIA H100) | 50,000+ NVIDIA H100 (internal Tesla cluster) | Tesla internal manufacturing (early 2026) |
| Boston Dynamics | Atlas (new electric version, 2024) | Not publicly disclosed; partnership with Google DeepMind for AI | Industrial (Hyundai factories) |
| 1X (Norway) | NEO Beta (2024) | Not publicly disclosed; OpenAI partnership | Home (initial target) |
| Agility Robotics | Digit (commercial deployments 2024+) | Modest (no public commitment) | Logistics (Amazon warehouses) |
Figure's 100,000-GPU Vera Rubin commitment is the largest single humanoid-robotics compute commitment announced. Tesla's Optimus is the closest competitor, with 50,000+ H100s for the internal training, but Tesla's cluster is H100 generation (the previous generation) and is internal-only (no external customers). Figure's Vera Rubin is the next generation, and the cluster will serve Figure's external customers (manufacturing, logistics, healthcare).
The deal is also the largest GPU commitment by any humanoid-robotics company to NVIDIA. The previous largest was Tesla's 50,000+ H100s, which is a significant commitment but at the prior generation. Figure's 100,000 Vera Rubin is the next-generation commitment that positions Figure as the largest external humanoid-robotics customer of NVIDIA's AI infrastructure.
The deal is the first major Nscale partnership. Nscale is a UK-based full-stack AI cloud platform that launched in 2024. The Figure deal is the largest single customer commitment for Nscale and is the deal that establishes Nscale as a major player in the AI cloud market. The success of the Figure deal is the proof point for Nscale's ability to deliver large-scale AI infrastructure.
What to Watch in 2026-2028
Three signals settle the rest of 2026 and 2027-2028 for the humanoid-robotics race.
First, the Barstow deployment timeline. The first phase of the deployment is targeted for H2 2027. The deployment timeline depends on NVIDIA's Vera Rubin supply ramp; the GPU supply ramp is a multi-quarter process. The deployment-on-time signal: Barstow phase 1 goes live in Q3-Q4 2027.
Second, the Helix model release. Figure is targeting a 10T+ parameter Helix model. The model release depends on the training timeline; a multi-month training run on 50,000-100,000 GPUs typically takes 3-6 months. The expected Helix model release is Q4 2027 to Q1 2028.
Third, the commercial deployment. Figure has been targeting manufacturing and logistics as the first commercial deployments. The first commercial deployments are expected in 2027-2028. The deployment scale signal: Figure deploys the first 1,000+ humanoids in commercial settings in 2027-2028.
Read next
NVIDIA GTC Berlin October 2026 Preview is the conference preview for the Vera Rubin platform announcement, and Jensen Huang $1 Trillion: Blackwell + Rubin Order Book is the supplier-side perspective on the order book that the Figure deal is part of.
Fazlur Rahman
