July 31, 2025 – OpenAI, in collaboration with its partners Nscale and Aker, has unveiled plans to establish the Stargate Norway data center project in Norway. This marks OpenAI’s inaugural AI data center initiative in Europe and its second non – U.S. sovereign AI facility under the OpenAI for Countries program, following the one in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In contrast to the massive Stargate UAE data center, which boasts a total capacity of 1GW, the Stargate Norway project is relatively more modest in scale. Initially, it will have a power capacity of 230MW, with plans to add an additional 290MW. The center aims to deliver 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026, with the potential for further expansion in the future.
The Stargate Norway project will be situated in Narvik, located within the Arctic Circle. This area offers several advantages, including abundant hydroelectric power resources, a cool climate, and a well – established industrial base. The data center will be entirely powered by renewable energy sources. Moreover, it will employ a highly efficient closed – loop DLC liquid cooling technology, and the waste heat generated will be utilized to support low – carbon businesses in the region.
OpenAI pointed out that on the European continent, millions of individuals use ChatGPT and its API on a daily basis. In Norway alone, the monthly active users of ChatGPT have surged to four times the previous number over the past year, and there are thousands of local developers. The Stargate Norway project is expected to significantly enhance the availability of AI computing resources in Norway and across Europe.
