Openai said Thursday it plans to launch Stargate Norway, Europe’s first AI data centre.
Nscale will design and build the site and become a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies. Openai will become the “offtaker” of the project and will purchase capacity from the data center.
This announcement comes as Europe competes to achieve AI sovereignty, invest in data centers, and calculates electricity. Earlier this week, the Bullock announced details of its multi-billion dollar investments in AI infrastructure, including 1.3 billion euros ($11.8 billion), setting up 13 AI plants and 2 billion euros as initial investments in the plant. Data sovereignty is key to its mission due to the sensitive nature of business and government data.
Nscale and Openai told TechCrunch that Stargate Norway is not part of the European Union’s plan to expand AI at home. NSCALE CEO Josh Payne told CNBC that part of the project’s purpose is to “utilise European sovereign calculations” for the continent’s profits. Norwegian AI ecosystem has access to priorities to centres, including startups and scientific researchers.
CNBC also reported that NSCALE and AKER each have committed around $1 billion to the first 20 megawatts (MW) phase of the project. According to Openai, Stargate Norway originally offered 230 MW of capacity and plans to expand to 290 MW, and will run on 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026.
The site is located near Narvik, a small town in northern Norway. In a blog post, Openai said the area is notable for its hydroelectric power, cool climate and access to “mature industrial bases.”
“The facility is expected to run on fully renewable power and incorporate closed loop direct liquid cooling to ensure maximum cooling efficiency,” Openai said. “In addition, excess heat from GPU systems will become available, supporting local low-carbon companies.”
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According to the EU AI Act, which came into effect in August 2024 and prohibits systems with “unacceptable risks,” businesses need to take measures to protect the environment and be transparent about the energy consumption of AI models. Furthermore, the BLOC Energy Efficiency Directive highlights the energy efficiency of the ICT sector, including data centers. This directive also directs data centers that exceed a specific energy input threshold to recover waste heat.
The announcement of Stargate Norway comes seven months after Openai announced that it would invest $500 billion in its partnership with Oracle and SoftBank to the US 10 Gigawatt AI infrastructure over the next four years. The deal follows the launch of Stargate UAE earlier this year, and recently accelerated the adoption of the UK government and AI, boosting infrastructure.
This article was updated to clarify that Stargate Norway is separate from its investment in the EU’s AI infrastructure.
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