Microsoft takes Stargate Norway
OpenAI pulled back from the Stargate Norway data‑centre project and Microsoft has taken over, with talk of Microsoft renting compute capacity back to OpenAI. Reports say Microsoft has leased tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs in Norway and is securing large land parcels in the U.S. for further data‑centre buildout. (cnbc.com) (simplywall.st)
Microsoft has taken over data center capacity in northern Norway that OpenAI had once lined up for its Stargate buildout, shifting a marquee artificial intelligence site back under Microsoft’s umbrella. (cnbc.com) OpenAI told CNBC it abandoned plans to rent compute directly from Nscale’s planned 230-megawatt facility in Narvik, Norway, and is now discussing renting that capacity from Microsoft instead. A source told CNBC OpenAI had been in talks to take about half the site before the two sides failed to reach an offtake deal. (cnbc.com) Nscale said on April 14 that Microsoft expanded its Narvik agreement to add more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin graphics processing units, with the extra capacity due in 2027. Nscale said the 230-megawatt campus would rank among Norway’s largest onshore artificial intelligence infrastructure projects. (nscale.com) Stargate Norway was announced on July 31, 2025 by OpenAI, Nscale and Aker as a Narvik project targeting 100,000 Nvidia graphics processing units by the end of 2026, powered by renewable energy. OpenAI called it its first “gigafactory” initiative in Europe. (openai.com) The reversal comes days after OpenAI paused a similar Stargate project in the United Kingdom, also tied to Nscale. CNBC reported OpenAI has been tempering expectations around direct infrastructure spending as it heads toward a potential initial public offering this year. (cnbc.com) For Microsoft, the Norway move lands alongside a fresh land push in the United States. On April 14, Microsoft said it intended to buy about 3,200 acres in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to expand its existing data center footprint there. (news.microsoft.com) Microsoft and OpenAI are still partners, but this arrangement leaves Microsoft controlling more of the physical computing power that OpenAI may end up using. In Norway, that means OpenAI could become a customer of Microsoft at a site it once presented as part of its own Stargate network. (cnbc.com) The Norway site has not disappeared. The name on the capacity changed, the chips changed hands, and the project that was introduced as OpenAI’s European foothold now looks more like another Microsoft data center with OpenAI waiting at the other end of the lease. (openai.com)
