OpenAI has withdrawn a plan to lease computing capacity directly at the 230-megawatt 'Stargate Norway' data centre in Narvik, Norway.

On April 15 local time, CNBC reported the change involves the Stargate Norway site. The data centre is being built by British AI cloud startup Nscale, and OpenAI previously said it could be an initial customer for the facility in 2025. OpenAI discussed leasing about half of the total capacity but did not reach a final contract with Nscale.

OpenAI has shifted to going through its existing partner Microsoft instead of signing a direct contract. Microsoft is set to take the capacity that had been earmarked for OpenAI, and OpenAI is discussing leasing local computing resources through Microsoft in return.

A company spokesperson said the Norway plan is still being pursued and that it will work with Microsoft to access local computing resources. The spokesperson also said this approach is more financially reasonable because it stays within the company's existing contract spending.

Microsoft is expanding investment in the Narvik campus, and it has been reported it will deploy an additional more than 30,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs at the site. Nscale previously announced it would support Microsoft deployments of Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform across several regions including Britain and Norway. John Tinter (존 틴터), corporate vice president of business development and ventures at Microsoft, said expanding cooperation with Nscale in Narvik will allow customers to access the advanced AI infrastructure they need to match rising demand across Europe.

OpenAI has recently moved to slow the pace of its infrastructure investment plans. Last week, it confirmed it halted the Britain Stargate project, citing energy costs and Britain's regulatory environment. Earlier in March, it announced it would shut down its video generation service Sora.

Fundraising is continuing. OpenAI said it completed raising $12.2 billion in investment in March at a valuation of $852 billion. But it is scaling back its computing investment plans more conservatively than before. OpenAI told investors in February it aims for total computing spending of about $600 billion by 2030. That is a lower expectation compared with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (샘 알트먼) referring in November last year to infrastructure commitments worth $1.4 trillion over the next eight years.