Inside Nscale’s $790M Financing and the Microsoft Pivot at Norway’s Narvik AI Data Center
Nscale secured $790 million from five European banks to continue building its massive Narvik AI data‑center campus in Norway. The financing comes from ABN AMRO, DNB, Eksfin, Nordea, and SEB and includes a potential additional $790 million accordion facility that could fund another 115MW expansion.
Nscale secured $790 million from five European banks to continue building its massive Narvik AI data‑center campus in Norway.
The financing comes from ABN AMRO, DNB, Eksfin, Nordea, and SEB and includes a potential additional $790 million accordion facility that could fund another 115MW expansion.
Combined with Microsoft demand and a recent $14.6B valuation, the deal positions Nscale as one of Europe’s best‑funded challengers in the global AI infrastructure race.
What does Nscale’s new $790 million debt financing mean for the development of its AI data centre in Narvik, Norway, who are the banks backiNscale’s Narvik campus is being developed as one of Europe’s largest AI‑focused data‑center hubs.
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Nscale has secured $790 million in new debt financing to continue building its large AI data‑center campus in Narvik, Norway—one of the most ambitious artificial‑intelligence infrastructure projects underway in Europe. The funding signals strong lender confidence in the project even after a major change: the site was originally associated with OpenAI’s planned “Stargate Norway” initiative, but Microsoft has now emerged as the key customer anchoring the facility.
The $790M Financing: What It Funds
The new financing package will support the continued development of Nscale’s AI data‑center campus near Narvik in northern Norway. The company describes the project as .
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Nscale secured $790 million from five European banks to continue building its massive Narvik AI data‑center campus in Norway. The financing comes from ABN AMRO, DNB, Eksfin, Nordea, and SEB and includes a potential additional $790 million accordion facility that could fund another 115MW expansion.
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Combined with Microsoft demand and a recent $14.6B valuation, the deal positions Nscale as one of Europe’s best‑funded challengers in the global AI infrastructure race.
the largest AI infrastructure investment in the country
A consortium of European banks is providing the funding:
ABN AMRO
DNB Bank
Eksfin (Export Finance Norway)
Nordea
SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken)
The debt facility also includes an uncommitted accordion option worth another $790 million, which lenders may provide later if the project expands further. That additional capacity could finance about 115 megawatts of extra data‑center capacity at the Narvik campus.
In practical terms, the financing allows Nscale to continue building out power infrastructure, compute capacity, and facilities required for hyperscale AI workloads.
What Happened to OpenAI’s “Stargate Norway” Plan
The Narvik campus was initially linked to OpenAI’s Stargate infrastructure initiative, which aimed to build large‑scale AI compute infrastructure globally. However, negotiations between OpenAI and Nscale did not ultimately lead to a finalized capacity agreement.
With OpenAI stepping back, Microsoft moved in to take the available capacity at the site. The shift effectively changed the narrative of the project—from an OpenAI‑anchored Stargate facility to a Microsoft‑driven AI compute deployment.
Microsoft’s New Deal for GPUs and Data‑Center Capacity
Microsoft has expanded its partnership with Nscale to deploy large amounts of AI hardware at the Narvik campus.
Key details include:
Microsoft will deploy more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs at the facility.
The additional compute capacity is expected to come online around 2027.
The GPUs will be housed at a campus designed for roughly 230MW of data‑center capacity.
Microsoft is effectively renting AI compute infrastructure from Nscale, using the facility to support Azure AI and related workloads. The company had already committed about $6.2 billion of capacity investment tied to the site, making it one of the most significant hyperscale AI deployments in the region.
Why the Accordion Financing Matters
The optional second $790 million accordion facility is a notable element of the deal structure. Rather than raising the entire amount immediately, Nscale can draw additional debt if demand for capacity continues to grow.
This structure is common in large infrastructure projects because it allows developers to:
expand capacity quickly when customer demand rises
align financing with construction milestones
reduce upfront borrowing costs
For Narvik specifically, the accordion financing could fund another 115MW expansion, enabling the campus to scale alongside demand from hyperscale customers such as Microsoft.
How Nscale Fits Into the Global AI Infrastructure Race
The Narvik project is part of a broader surge in investment in AI compute infrastructure—large facilities designed to host tens of thousands of GPUs for training and running advanced AI models.
Nscale has rapidly raised capital to compete in this market. In 2026, the company completed a $2 billion Series C funding round that valued the company at about $14.6 billion, bringing total funding raised to more than $4.9 billion within roughly a year.
That funding supports a growing pipeline of AI data centers designed to serve hyperscale cloud providers and large AI developers.
The Big Picture
Nscale’s latest financing shows that the Narvik AI campus is moving forward despite the collapse of its original OpenAI‑linked storyline. With backing from major European banks and Microsoft committing to massive GPU deployments, the project is evolving into a major European hub for hyperscale AI computing.
If the accordion financing is triggered and additional capacity is built, the Narvik campus could become one of the most significant AI infrastructure projects in Europe—highlighting how demand for GPU‑powered compute is reshaping global data‑center investment.
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Nscale Raises $790 Million in Financing for Norway AI ...
