OpenAI Exits Norway Stargate Project, Microsoft Takes Over Data Center Lease

Gate News message, April 16 — OpenAI has withdrawn from the Stargate data center project in Norway, which it had previously pursued alongside initiatives in the United States and United Kingdom. On April 15, British AI cloud startup Ensacle announced it has signed a contract to lease a 230-megawatt (MW) data center being built in Narvik, northern Norway, to Microsoft.

The facility will house over 30,000 units of Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin graphics processing units (GPUs). OpenAI had originally identified the site as a key hub for the "Stargate Norway" project during initial demand negotiations. OpenAI's withdrawal follows earlier exits from a Texas data center expansion with Oracle and a "Stargate UK" project, citing regulatory constraints and energy costs as factors.

Industry observers view OpenAI's strategic shift as part of a broader financial restructuring ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) later this year. The company has reduced its total computing cost forecast through 2030 from $1.4 trillion to $600 billion. OpenAI stated that the Norway project remains active and that leasing computational capacity through Microsoft Azure is more economical. John Tinter, Microsoft's corporate vice president of business development and ventures, said the expanded partnership with Ensacle in Narvik will help address growing AI demand across Europe.