OpenAI has revealed its plans to establish its first European data center, “Stargate Norway,” through a partnership with British cloud infrastructure provider Nscale and Norwegian energy company Aker. According to TechCrunch, the facility will be developed as a 50:50 joint venture between Nscale and Aker, with Nscale overseeing its design and construction. OpenAI will function as an off-taker, purchasing the computing capacity from the facility.
This initiative is part of a wider European push to enhance AI sovereignty and increase investment in domestic data infrastructure. The European Union recently unveiled a major funding package to boost AI capabilities, which includes an initial €10 billion for the creation of 13 AI factories and €20 billion for early-stage investment. Data sovereignty is a key concern, particularly due to the sensitive nature of governmental and commercial data.
While it is uncertain if OpenAI’s project directly aligns with the EU’s AI strategy, the company did not respond to requests for comment. Nscale’s CEO, Josh Payne, told CNBC that the project aims to utilize European sovereign compute capacity to bolster the continent’s AI ecosystem. Local startups and research institutions in Norway will be given priority access to the data center.
According to CNBC, Nscale and Aker have each pledged approximately $1 billion for the initial 20-megawatt (MW) phase of the project. OpenAI stated that Stargate Norway will begin with a 230 MW capacity and later expand to 290 MW, powered by 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by the end of 2026.
The facility will be located near Narvik in northern Norway, chosen for its cold climate, access to hydropower, and existing industrial infrastructure. OpenAI mentioned that the center will run entirely on renewable energy and will use closed-loop, direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems to maximize efficiency. The surplus heat from the GPU operations will be repurposed to support low-carbon industries in the local area.
In compliance with the EU AI Act, which came into force in August 2024, data centers must meet environmental protection standards and disclose the energy consumption related to AI model training. The bloc’s Energy Efficiency Directive further mandates that data centers exceeding specific input levels must recover energy.
The Stargate Norway announcement follows OpenAI’s earlier commitment to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States through partnerships with Oracle and SoftBank. It also comes after the launch of Stargate UAE and a recent agreement with the British government to accelerate AI deployment and improve infrastructure.
