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OpenAI pulls back from Stargate Norway data center deal as Microsoft takes over

Cnbc · · 504 words · By Kai Nicol-Schwarz
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/15/openai-stargate-norway-project-microsoft.html

fact_checkFact-Check Results

14 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 7
schedule Pending 4
help Insufficient Evidence 2
info Single Source 1
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“OpenAI has abandoned plans to rent compute capacity directly from a Norwegian data center”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm that OpenAI abandoned/withdrew from plans to rent capacity at the Norway site, which was subsequently taken over by Microsoft.
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web search NEUTRAL — Nearly 7 gigawatts of planned data center capacity. Over $400 billion in investment across five sites.OpenAI is trying to have it both ways: the independence of a multi-cloud strategy without the capi…
https://the-contextwindow.beehiiv.com/p/openai-just-rewrote-…
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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI. Account, login and billing.Details on data privacy and usage policies. Secure sign in. Signing into connected apps. SSO, SCIM, and User Management.
https://help.openai.com/en/
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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI on Thursday said it is launching a Stargate-branded AI data center in Norway, marking its first foray into Europe with such a project. British firm Nscale will design and build the site as part…
https://usaemall.com/openai-backs-ai-information-heart-in-no…
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“OpenAI paused a similar project in the U.K.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web sources explicitly state that OpenAI paused its 'Stargate UK' project due to high energy costs and regulatory uncertainty.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Grok is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by SpaceXAI. It was launched in November 2023 by Elon Musk as an initiative based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name. Gro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok_(chatbot)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stargate Project, incorporated in Delaware as Stargate LLC, is an American multinational artificial intelligence (AI) joint venture created by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and investment firm MGX. The ve…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_LLC
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The third season of the military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 commenced airing on Showtime in the United States on June 25, 1999, concluded on Sky1 in the United Kingdom on March 8,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_SG-1_season_3
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Microsoft is taking the extra compute previously earmarked for OpenAI at a planned 230MW "Stargate Norway" facility in Narvik.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm Microsoft is taking over the capacity at the 230MW facility in Narvik that was previously intended for OpenAI.
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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft has agreed to rent data center capacity in Norway, initially intended for OpenAI. OpenAI had planned to use the site for its Stargate initiative but did not finalize an agreement with Nscale…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brodyford_microsoft-takes-ove…
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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft is taking over OpenAI's planned Norway Stargate data center. OpenAI failed to close an offtake deal with Nscale for half of a 230 MW facility in Narvik, and Microsoft stepped in to take the …
https://qz.com/microsoft-openai-norway-stargate-data-center-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft has acquired a Norwegian data center agreement that OpenAI recently abandoned. The transaction brings over 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs into Microsoft’s portfolio at the Narvik location, coincid…
https://blockonomi.com/microsoft-msft-stock-surges-4-after-s…
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“OpenAI is now in discussions to rent capacity from Microsoft instead”
SINGLE SOURCE
While sources confirm OpenAI is diversifying its compute (using Google and Oracle) and that Microsoft took the Norway capacity, there is no specific evidence in the provided text stating OpenAI is currently 'in discussions to rent capacity from Microsoft instead' as a direct replacement for the Norway deal; rather, it mentions a general $250B Azure contract.
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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI, which once got all its compute capacity from Microsoft, has moved to diversify, first with its Stargate project with Oracle and SoftBank and more recently in a deal with Google to use its clou…
https://www.axios.com/2025/06/17/microsoft-openai-partners-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI also negotiated an agreement with Google to gain access to its vast computing capacity, Reuters reported earlier this month. No doubt that Microsoft will want to keep its coveted access to Open…
https://futurism.com/microsoft-belief-openai-agi
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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft has secured a significant data center agreement in Narvik, Norway, after OpenAI withdrew from negotiations. This acquisition brings over 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs under Microsoft’s control at…
https://parameter.io/microsoft-msft-stock-surges-after-secur…
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“The AI company said in 2025 it had the opportunity to be an "initial offtaker" at the data center... being built by UK AI cloud startup Nscale.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including a dedicated OpenAI announcement and Tech.eu, confirm OpenAI's role as an 'initial offtaker' for the Nscale-built data center.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An AI data center is a specialized data center facility designed for the computationally intensive tasks of training and running inference for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning models.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_data_center
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nscale is a Europe-based technology company specializing in AI-ready data centers and high-performance GPU cloud infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the company was founded in 2024 by Joshua Payn…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nscale
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sheryl Kara Sandberg (born August 28, 1969) is an American technology executive, philanthropist and writer. She was the chief operating officer of Meta Platforms from 2008 to 2022 and is the founder o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheryl_Sandberg
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“OpenAI was in discussions to rent around half of the facility's capacity”
CORROBORATED
Web search results specifically mention that OpenAI failed to close a deal for 'half of a 230 MW facility in Narvik'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Land Rover Defender is a four-wheel-drive off-road luxury 4x4 from British automotive company Jaguar Land Rover. The vehicle was launched on 10 September 2019 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It is si…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Defender_(L663)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Novaya Zemlya, also spelled Novaja Zemlja, is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novaya_Zemlya
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ozerk Ozan (born 1979) is a Norwegian fintech entrepreneur, lecturer, best known as the founder of banking-as-a-service provider OpenPayd, European Merchant Bank (EMBank), and the co-founder of Norsk …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozerk_Ozan
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Nscale and OpenAI ultimately did not agree on an offtake deal”
CORROBORATED
Three independent sources confirm that OpenAI and Nscale failed to reach an agreement on the offtake deal, allowing Microsoft to step in.
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web search NEUTRAL — But instead, Nscale has signed a deal with existing customer Microsoft, which will rent Nvidia chips from Nscale at the site, after it was reported that OpenAI and Nscale failed to land a deal.
https://tech.eu/2026/05/11/nscale-snaps-up-major-us-data-cen…
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web search NEUTRAL — However, negotiations between OpenAI and Nscale failed to produce an agreement, leaving the capacity open for Microsoft to secure. The development reflects a broader recalibration within OpenAI.
https://www.telecomrevieweurope.com/articles/reports-and-cov…
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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI failed to close an offtake deal with Nscale for half of a 230 MW facility in Narvik, and Microsoft stepped in to take the capacity.
https://qz.com/microsoft-openai-norway-stargate-data-center-…
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“it had contracted to purchase $250 billion of services from Azure, Microsoft's cloud-computing division.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources report that OpenAI contracted to purchase an additional $250 billion of Azure services from Microsoft.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization headquartered in San Francisco, consisting of a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC) partially controlled by a nonprofit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Azure, sometimes stylized Azure, and formerly Windows Azure, is the cloud computing platform developed by Microsoft. It offers management, access and development of applications and services…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Azure
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Copilot is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Microsoft AI, a division of Microsoft. Based on OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-5 series of large language models, it was launched…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Copilot
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Nscale announced on Tuesday that Microsoft was expanding its agreement at the Narvik campus, adding more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs in deployment.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to confirm the specific announcement of 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs being added by Microsoft via Nscale on a 'Tuesday'.
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“In March, Nscale said it would support Microsoft with its deployment of Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform across sites in the UK, Norway and beyond.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to confirm Nscale's March announcement regarding the Vera Rubin platform deployment across the UK and Norway.
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“In March, OpenAI announced it was shuttering its video generation service Sora.”
PENDING
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“March also saw OpenAI announce it had closed a record $122 billion funding round, at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.”
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“OpenAI told investors in February that it was targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030”
PENDING
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“CEO Sam Altman in November that the company would hit $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments over the next eight years.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.