STORY / PUBLIC SOURCE RECORD
Mature Norwegian data centre industry supports AI explosion
- Published 13 December 2023; updated 25 March 2026; estimated reading time 4 minutes. The article presents Norway as a potential base for high-performance computing and AI workloads, citing fibre links to continental Europe, North America and the UK, renewable electricity, a reliable grid and relatively low operating costs. Industry association chairman Gisle Eckhoff says Norway shifted from a connectivity gap to a fibre hub; he is also EVP of data centres at Bulk Infrastructure. The article cites IEA data that data centres globally accounted for 1% of energy-related greenhouse-gas emissions.
- The article says Norwegian operators use hydropower/wind, natural cooling and waste-heat reuse. Green Mountain agreements with Hima Seafood and Norwegian Lobster Farm use data-centre waste heat for aquaculture; Lefdal Mine Datacenter operates underground in a former mine. Statkraft offers prepared sites and handles planning, zoning, licensing, environmental assessment and power approvals; the page cites Eckhoff’s estimate that Norwegian data-centre land can cost about one-tenth of comparable Central European plots.
- CTS Nordics business-development manager Rolf Arne Storøy says prefab manufacturing and modular construction help reduce cost and build time as AI increases facility requirements. The Norwegian Data Centre Industry Association, formed in 2021, is said to have more than 50 members. Norway also has a national data-centre strategy. Google investments and AWS/Microsoft Azure presence are mentioned. A 17.25% market-growth projection for 2022–2027 is historical third-party forecast data cited in the article, not a current forecast.
- Related industry: Digital infrastructure. The page links an Invest in Norway contact pathway; named individual contacts appear only in quotations, without direct contact details.