OpenAI pulls back on Norway data centre
OpenAI pulled back from the Stargate Norway data‑centre deal and is now discussing renting compute capacity from Microsoft after Microsoft took over the project. Coverage also notes investor scrutiny around OpenAI’s valuation as it shifts toward enterprise sales. (cnbc.com) (thehindu.com)
OpenAI has backed away from directly renting capacity at the Stargate Norway data center, and Microsoft is now taking that space instead. (cnbc.com) CNBC reported on April 15 that OpenAI dropped plans to rent compute from United Kingdom cloud company Nscale at the Norway site after the companies failed to reach an agreement. OpenAI said it is now discussing renting that compute from Microsoft instead. (cnbc.com) Nscale said on April 14 that Microsoft expanded its Norway deal to add more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin graphics processing units at Nscale’s 230-megawatt Narvik campus, with deployment planned for 2027. Bloomberg reported that this builds on Microsoft’s prior $6.2 billion commitment at the same site. (nscale.com) (bloomberg.com) The reversal is notable because OpenAI, Nscale and Aker said on July 31, 2025 that Stargate Norway would be OpenAI’s first data-center initiative in Europe. The companies said then that the Narvik project targeted 100,000 Nvidia graphics processing units by the end of 2026 and would run on renewable power. (openai.com) (nscale.com) Stargate is OpenAI’s broader infrastructure push, which OpenAI said in January 2025 was backed by SoftBank, Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia and Arm, with a stated goal of investing up to $500 billion in United States artificial-intelligence infrastructure over four years. Norway showed that the brand had started to stretch beyond the United States. (openai.com 1) (openai.com 2) The Norway move also fits a wider pullback. Data Center Dynamics reported this week that OpenAI had dropped out of the Narvik project, and CNBC said the company is shifting away from renting capacity directly and toward taking compute through Microsoft. (datacenterdynamics.com) (cnbc.com) At the same time, investors are questioning whether OpenAI’s strategy can support its latest price tag. Reuters reported on April 14, citing the Financial Times, that some backers are scrutinizing OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation as the company shifts toward enterprise customers and redraws its product roadmap in response to Google and Anthropic. (usnews.com) Reuters also reported that OpenAI raised $122 billion in March in what would likely rank as Silicon Valley’s largest fundraising round, even as some investors worried the company could be left more exposed to Anthropic and Google before a possible initial public offering. (usnews.com) For now, the Norway site is still moving ahead, but under a different customer mix: Microsoft is locking in the chips, Nscale is building the campus, and OpenAI is trying to buy capacity with less direct exposure. (nscale.com) (cnbc.com)
