Sam Altman’s OpenAI expands to Europe with major data center in Norway

Sam Altman’s OpenAI will expand to Europe with the construction of a new data center in Norway. The Stargate project will require an AI intelligence infrastructure with 230MW from renewable energy. 

Sam Altman’s OpenAI will expand in Europe, securing a data center in Norway for its Stargate project. OpenAI will launch a 230MW facility based on renewable energy, with the goal of expanding with an additional 290MW. The data center will be located in Narvik, Northern Norway, in the town of Kvandal. 

NVIDIA Europe announced the partnership and the upcoming creation of a high-uptime location for AI tasks. The data center will also collaborate with the local academic institutions for research. 

Norway offers cheap hydroelectric power and favorable climate

The location was selected for its relative seclusion and low electric grid connectivity, being able to deliver low-cost renewable hydroelectric energy.

Nscale, Aker ASA, and OpenAI are launching Stargate Norway, an NVIDIA GPU AI gigafactory in Narvik, Northern Norway.

Powered by 100% renewable energy, the facility will provide secure and scalable infrastructure for sovereign AI workloads, with plans to support up to 100,000… pic.twitter.com/AV02oUZcLY

— NVIDIA Europe (@NVIDIAEU) July 31, 2025

While the EU lags on the consumer side of AI, the region is part of the drive for infrastructure growth. 

The data center will be created in collaboration with Nscale Global Holdings Ltd. and the Norwegian partner Aker ASA. The project will be owned by a joint venture between Nscale and Aker. 

‘Announcing Stargate Norway and delivering one of the first European AI Gigafactory to market is a strategic milestone for the region and boosts its role in the global AI landscape,’ said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. 

‘Sovereign, scalable and sustainable infrastructure is now essential to remain competitive. We’re proud to partner with Aker, drawing on the team’s extensive experience and impressive track record, to deliver a new generation of AI economic and productivity growth in Europe,’ he said.

The data center expansion under the Stargate brand is part of the effort to invest $500B in data centers in the USA. OpenAI tapped SoftBank Group and Oracle Corp. for its data centers on US territory. 

Later, OpenAI expanded the program to the Middle East, helping establish a major data center in the United Arab Emirates. For the first time, the venture will choose Europe, delivering 100K Nvidia GPUs by the end of 2026. 

The new data center announcement arrived just days after OpenAI tapped assistance from Oracle with a contract for 2M AI-compatible chips. 

OpenAI picks Norway as growing data center destination

Norway is expected to attract $2.15B in new data center investments in the current year. The location has been selected for its climate, recently boosting multiple types of data centers. 

The country’s government has taken up additional oversight on the new creation of data centers, intending to limit the access of some cryptocurrency miners, while focusing on high uptime data centers and AI infrastructure.

In June, the country announced an upcoming crackdown on energy-intensive crypto mining. Norway’s data center approach also mimics the general EU trend of expanding infrastructure capacity. 

Data centers in Europe show regional specifics, from access to energy to favorable interconnection hubs. The EU has attempted to grow AI infrastructure, tapping the growth of US-based companies with favorable locations. Norway benefits from the overall trend, despite being outside the Euro Area and relying on its own regulations.