Microsoft Narvik Norway data center, Nordland, Norway

Nscale's 230 megawatt AI data center campus at Kvandal outside Narvik, in Nordland in Arctic Norway, will serve Microsoft after OpenAI, the project's original customer, withdrew in April 2026. On April 14, 2026, Nscale expanded its agreement with Microsoft to add more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin chips, the specialized computer chips that run AI programs, for delivery in 2027, and said it would now run the project alone after folding its joint venture with Aker.

Microsoft first signed with Nscale and Aker in September 2025, in a five-year deal worth an estimated $6.2 billion with service delivered in stages from 2026; Microsoft says the site was chosen for abundant hydropower, low local electricity demand, a cool climate and existing industrial infrastructure. Norway's digitalization minister, Karianne Tung, laid the foundation stone on November 19, 2025. "Expanding our work with Nscale in Narvik helps ensure Microsoft customers have access to the advanced AI infrastructure they need as demand continues to grow across Europe," said Jon Tinter, Microsoft's president of business development and ventures.

Power is the fight locally: a June 2026 opinion piece in High North News argued that the rest of the business community in northern Norway has been told no new power will be allocated there, while the Narvik project alone equals almost a third of total energy use in the Arctic. Opponents say data centers are the wrong use of scarce clean energy while other industrial projects wait for power, and that consumers will pay more for electricity as a result. The same piece questioned who controls the project, noting Nscale's largest owner is Norwegian businessman Kjell Inge Rokke and the rest are global investors.

Aker Nscale also plans a second, similarly sized data center at Korgen in Hemnes municipality, Nordland, needing about 250 megawatts of grid capacity, still waiting for a power allocation from grid operator Statnett; Nscale already runs a data center at Glomfjord. Statnett allocates grid capacity for any further expansion in the region; Microsoft's Narvik capacity is due to arrive in stages from 2026, with the Rubin chips following in 2027.