OpenAI has abandoned plans to directly rent computing power from a data center in Norway, days after confirming it had paused a similar project in the UK.
microsoft is leveraging additional compute previously allocated for OpenAI at its planned 230MW “Stargate Norway” facility in Narvik. OpenAI is currently in talks to lease capacity from Microsoft instead, a company spokesperson told CNBC.
The AI company said it has an opportunity to become the “first off-taker” of data centers in 2025. The data center was part of OpenAI’s Stargate infrastructure project and was being built by British AI cloud startup Nscale.
OpenAI was in talks to lease about half of the facility’s capacity, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told CNBC.
Nscale and OpenAI ultimately failed to agree to an offtake agreement, and Microsoft stepped in to take over the capacity, the person said. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that OpenAI has not concluded data center offtake negotiations with Nscale.
An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment on the capacity the company discussed renting as part of a potential offtake agreement. The company told CNBC it is in talks to lease capacity from Microsoft, adding that this makes financial sense for the company and falls under existing contract spending.
An OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC that “we are moving forward with our plans in Norway.” “Microsoft is a key partner in our network and we look forward to working with them to make computing accessible in Norway, just as we already do in other parts of the world.”
They referenced CNBC’s October announcement that Microsoft had struck a deal to buy $250 billion in services from Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing division.
Nscale announced Tuesday that Microsoft is expanding its contract at its Narvik campus to add more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs. Nscale announced in March that it would support Microsoft deployments. Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform across sites in the UK, Norway and more.
“Narvik’s expanded collaboration with Nscale will ensure Microsoft customers have access to the advanced AI infrastructure they need as demand continues to grow across Europe,” John Tinter, Microsoft’s president of business development and ventures, said in a statement Tuesday.
With a potential IPO looming this year, OpenAI is tempering expectations for its spending plans.
The company confirmed last week that it had scrapped plans for the UK Stargate project, citing energy costs and the country’s regulatory environment. In March, OpenAI announced it would shut down its video generation service Sora.
Money continues to flow into the startup. Also in March, OpenAI announced it had closed a record $122 billion funding round, giving it a post-money valuation of $852 billion.
After announcing a flurry of AI infrastructure investments in 2025, OpenAI told investors in February that it aims to bring total computing spending to about $600 billion by 2030, following CEO Sam Altman’s comments in November that the company’s infrastructure investments would reach $1.4 trillion over the next eight years.
