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OpenAI drops Norway data center deal, Microsoft steps in
OpenAI has dropped plans to rent computing capacity directly from a planned 230MW data center in Narvik, Norway.
Instead, it is discussing access through Microsoft, a spokesperson told CNBC.
The site, built by UK AI cloud startup Nscale and positioned by OpenAI under its Stargate project, had been in talks to supply capacity.
However, no offtake agreement was reached, and Microsoft will take the allocation instead.
The change comes days after OpenAI said it halted a UK Stargate project, citing energy costs and the regulatory environment.
It said renting capacity via Microsoft made more financial sense under existing contracted spending.
🔗 Source: CNBC
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
A $250 billion Azure deal drives OpenAI’s infrastructure shift
- In October 2025, OpenAI agreed to spend another $250 billion on Microsoft’s Azure cloud services over about seven to eight years 1.
- Microsoft recently assumed control of a Texas data center project that had been planned for OpenAI and Oracle, the enterprise software and cloud computing company 2.
- At the Narvik site, Microsoft plans to rent capacity from Nscale for 30,000 more Nvidia Vera Rubin chips, Nvidia’s next-generation AI chips, on top of a $6.2 billion commitment Microsoft previously made at the same location 2.
AI infrastructure is concentrating faster
- Costs keep climbing and operations keep getting harder at global scale, so OpenAI appears more cautious on data center spending 2.
- Winners include hyperscalers, large cloud computing providers, plus “neocloud” providers, cloud companies that rent AI computing capacity, that work with them such as Nscale 2.
- These builders act as fast contractors for firms like Microsoft, which Wall Street expects to spend $143 billion this year on capital expenditures, mostly tied to data center buildouts 2.
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