Sam Altman’s OpenAI Makes Power Move: Norway Expansion Signals Next Phase of AI Dominance

OpenAI just placed its next strategic chess piece—and it's landing on Norway's sovereign board.

The AI giant, led by Sam Altman, is extending its Nordic footprint while legacy tech firms still scramble to integrate last year's models. No price tag disclosed (because when you're printing valuation like a central bank, who's counting?).

Norway's slice of the AI arms race comes with juicy perks: 24/7 hydropower for energy-guzzling servers and a government that actually understands technology. Meanwhile, Wall Street VCs are too busy chasing metaverse real estate to notice real infrastructure deals.

One question remains: Will this trigger another regional AI gold rush, or just expose how far behind competitors have fallen?

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.

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