OpenAI mentioned Thursday that it plans to launch Stargate Norway, its first AI information heart in Europe, in partnership with British AI cloud infrastructure supplier Nscale and Norwegian vitality infrastructure agency Aker.
Nscale will design and construct the location, and will probably be a 50/50 three way partnership between the 2 firms. OpenAI will probably be an “off-taker” within the venture, shopping for capability from the information heart.
The announcement comes as Europe races to attain AI sovereignty and put money into information facilities and compute energy. Earlier this week, the bloc unveiled particulars of its multibillion-dollar investment into AI infrastructure, together with €10 billion ($11.8 billion) to arrange 13 AI factories and €20 billion as an preliminary funding within the factories. Information sovereignty is vital to that mission, because of the delicate nature of enterprise and authorities information.
Nscale and OpenAI instructed TechCrunch that Stargate Norway isn’t part of the European Union’s plans to scale AI at house. Nscale CEO Josh Payne told CNBC that a part of the aim of this venture is to “leverage European sovereign compute” for the good thing about the continent. Norway’s AI ecosystem, like startups and scientific researchers, will get precedence entry to the middle.
CNBC additionally reported that Nscale and Aker have every dedicated round $1 billion to the preliminary 20 megawatt (MW) section of the venture. OpenAI says Stargate Norway will initially ship 230 MW capability, with plans to increase to 290 MW, and can run on 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by the tip of 2026.
The location will probably be situated close to Narvik, a small city in northern Norway. OpenAI mentioned in a blog post the area is notable for its entry to hydropower, a cool local weather, and a “mature industrial base.”
“The power will run completely on renewable energy and is predicted to include closed-loop, direct-to-chip liquid cooling to make sure most cooling effectivity,” mentioned OpenAI. “Moreover, extra warmth from the GPU methods will probably be made out there to assist low-carbon enterprises within the area.”
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Per the EU AI Act, which took impact in August 2024 and bans methods with “unacceptable danger,” firms constructing information facilities should take steps to guard the atmosphere and be clear in regards to the vitality consumption of AI fashions. Moreover, the bloc’s Vitality Effectivity Directive emphasizes vitality effectivity within the ICT sector, which incorporates information facilities. The directive additionally directs information facilities exceeding sure vitality enter thresholds to get better waste warmth.
The Stargate Norway announcement comes seven months after OpenAI introduced it might invest $500 billion into 10 gigawatts of AI infrastructure in america over the following 4 years, in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank. The deal additionally follows the launch of Stargate UAE earlier this 12 months, and a not too long ago signed deal with the U.K. government to speed up AI adoption and increase infrastructure.
This text was up to date to make clear that Stargate Norway is separate from the EU’s funding into AI infrastructure.