OpenAI said the new Norway-based data center comes as the European Union races to achieve AI sovereignty by investing in data center and compute power.
Norway’s perfect for these centers not just for the abundant hydro power, but also becuase the cold climate saves a ton on cooling costs which is actually a huge energy expense for data centers.
Over 13% of EU businesses with at least 10 employees have embraced Artificial Intelligence, says Eurostat, a 5.5% increase from 2023, with all member states reporting growth in the use of AI technology.
Large companies - meaning those with at least 250 employees - reported much higher AI use: 42% on average.
Nscale will design and build the site, and it will be a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies. OpenAI will be an “off-taker” in the project, buying capacity from the data center.
also
Nscale and OpenAI told TechCrunch that Stargate Norway isn’t a part of the European Union’s plans to scale AI at home. Nscale CEO Josh Payne told CNBC that part of the purpose of this project is to “leverage European sovereign compute” for the benefit of the continent. Norway’s AI ecosystem, like startups and scientific researchers, will get priority access to the center.
On top of this:
So far, the EU has put up 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion) in funding to set up 13 AI factories and 20 billion euros as a starting point for investment in the gigafactories, marking what it says is the “largest public investment in AI in the world.” The bloc has already received 76 expressions of interest in the gigafactories from 16 member states across 60 sites, Virkkunen said.
Great! what are you waiting for? build them?
However, in order for the factories to make a noteworthy addition to Europe’s computing capacity, significantly more investment will be required from the private sector to fund the expensive infrastructure.
Every nearby resident groans at the upcoming issues with the power.
Does Norway have limited power capacity like America?
It looks like it is super green and exporting lots to its neighbours:
https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/NO/72h/hourly
This is the perfect place to build AI data centres, heaps of green renewables in abundance
If only the EU could catch up
Norway’s perfect for these centers not just for the abundant hydro power, but also becuase the cold climate saves a ton on cooling costs which is actually a huge energy expense for data centers.
Or that energy could be used for more productive things instead of being wasted on this shit.
Europeans are using AI, maybe you missed this?
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/01/31/ai-on-the-rise-among-european-businesses-how-are-they-using-it
The EU should be powering it’s own data centres, not relying on the Americans
Their still relying on the Americans. It’s an American company. And America well suck up all their data no matter what EU law says.
Somebody didn’t read the article :P
also
On top of this:
Great! what are you waiting for? build them?
oh…
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/29/europe-sets-its-sights-on-multi-billion-euro-gigawatt-ai-factories.html
Only that no one needs this crap in the first place
i can’t believe you bothered to post that, what a waste of electricity
Some regions have more power than others. Thankfully this data center will be in the north, where electricity and cooling are both plentiful.