OpenAI announced Thursday that it is launching its first AI data center project in Europe, branded as Stargate, located in Norway. The initiative marks a significant expansion of OpenAI’s global AI infrastructure.
The data center will be designed and built by British firm Nscale in a 50-50 joint venture with Norwegian energy infrastructure company Aker. OpenAI will act as an “off-taker,” purchasing capacity from the facility.
Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale, said the goal is to leverage European sovereign compute to bring more AI services and features to the continent.
Ambitious Scale and Sustainability Goals
The Norway site plans to deliver 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026, with ambitions for further expansion in coming years. The center will run entirely on renewable energy and offer 230 megawatts of capacity, positioning it as one of Europe’s largest data centers.
The project’s location near Narvik benefits from abundant hydropower, low local electricity demand, and limited transmission constraints.
Nscale and Aker have each committed around $1 billion to the initial 20MW phase. While Payne declined to detail funding sources or financial returns, he indicated no immediate plans for additional Stargate centers but highlighted Nscale’s broader European expansion strategy.
Stargate was first launched in the U.S. earlier this year as a multi-partner infrastructure effort including OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and MGX, aiming to invest $500 billion over four years to build AI infrastructure.
OpenAI also announced plans for a Stargate campus in the UAE in June.
Europe’s Push for Sovereign AI Capacity
Europe has been emphasizing “sovereign AI,” mandating that data centers and AI workloads operate within European borders. Payne identified Europe’s challenges as limited compute capacity and fragmentation.
He stressed the need for large AI infrastructure projects to fuel AI product development, productivity growth, and economic benefits across the continent.
Tech leaders like Nvidia and OpenAI promote their ability to deliver sovereign AI solutions as they expand. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently called on Europe to increase AI infrastructure investments. French AI startup Mistral also announced plans for a new data center in France utilizing Nvidia GPUs.
Author’s Opinion
Europe’s push for sovereign AI infrastructure is not just about data security or regulatory compliance — it’s a strategic necessity in a global AI race. Projects like OpenAI’s Stargate in Norway signal a shift toward regional technological self-reliance. While the investment scale is staggering, ensuring local compute power and control over AI workloads will be vital for Europe’s competitiveness and innovation. However, success depends on coordinated efforts to overcome fragmentation and scale capacity swiftly.
Featured image credit: Zac Wolff via Unsplash
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