Regulatory Filings • Sep 17, 2025
Regulatory Filings
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Aker-Nscale JV signs Multi-Billion Dollar AI infrastructure agreement with Microsoft
Landmark deal initiates commercial execution of scalable, renewable
infrastructure for AI across the continent.
Oslo, Norway - 17 September 2025 - Nscale Global Holdings Ltd. ("Nscale"), Aker
ASA ("Aker") and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today signed a binding five-year
customer agreement marking a major milestone in the development of advanced
European owned hyperscale AI infrastructure.
At a contract value of approximately USD 6.2 billion, the agreement secures
Microsoft's access to high-performance AI compute capacity to be delivered in
staged deployments beginning in 2026. Located in Narvik, Northern Norway, the
project will deliver the most advanced AI infrastructure powered by secured grid
capacity and entirely renewable electricity.
Jon Tinter, President of Business Development and Ventures, Microsoft said:
"This demonstrates our unwavering commitment to customers in Norway and across
Europe, enabling us to deliver our latest and most advanced AI services. We're
inspired by how Nscale and Aker are advancing AI infrastructure powered by
renewable energy, and we're excited to work with European technology innovators
to bring the benefits of scalable, sustainability-driven AI to Microsoft Cloud
customers.
Josh Payne, founder and CEO of Nscale said: "This agreement demonstrates our
continued ability to execute at scale and establishes a new benchmark for AI
infrastructure. Delivering one of the largest GPU deployments in the world
reflects the unprecedented demand for compute and confirms Narvik's role as a
strategic hub for AI in Europe. It's a powerful testament of Nscale's approach -
bringing together data centres, GPUs and orchestration to accelerate access to
AI compute while ensuring efficiency, compliance and sustainability. We are
excited to continue scaling our partnership with Aker with this milestone."
Øyvind Eriksen, President & CEO of Aker said: "This agreement with Microsoft - a
long-standing partner to Aker - is a milestone for the joint venture with Nscale
and for Norway's role in enabling sovereign AI infrastructure. It underscores
our ambition of converting clean hydropower into strategic digital capacity, and
positions Narvik as a launchpad for Europe's sovereign cloud. With trusted
infrastructure, renewable power, and industrial readiness, Norway is stepping
into a new era of value creation - one that is digital, secure, and globally
relevant."
The Aker-Nscale joint venture continues to advance as planned and is expected to
be formally established during the third quarter of 2025, subject to fulfilment
of closing conditions.
Cash flow generated under the agreement will support funding of the project's
capital expenditures. The agreement includes standard commercial terms and
safeguards appropriate for a contract of this nature.
-ENDS-
About Nscale
Nscale is the global hyperscaler engineered for sovereign-grade AI
infrastructure, delivering compute to the generative AI market at scale. Through
its fully vertically integrated suite of AI solutions and GW+ greenfield data
centres across Europe and North America, Nscale enables customers to run
efficient and scalable AI training, fine-tuning, and inferencing workloads.
About Aker
Aker ASA is an industrial investment company headquartered in Fornebu, Norway.
Founded in 1841, Aker builds and develops leading companies across energy,
industrial software, renewables, and marine biotechnology. As the largest
shareholder in several listed and privately held companies, Aker combines deep
industrial expertise, financial strength, and capital markets insight to drive
long-term value creation through active ownership.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI
to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.
The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so
responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on
the planet to achieve more.
Media contact:
Atle Kigen, Head of Media Relations and Public Affairs
Tel: +47 90 78 48 78
E-mail: [email protected]
Investor contact:
Fredrik Berge, Head of Investor Relations
Tel: +47 45 03 20 90
E-mail: [email protected]
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU
Market Abuse Regulation article 7 and is subject to the disclosure requirements
pursuant to MAR article 17 and Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading
Act. This stock exchange announcement was published by Fredrik Berge, Head of
IR, Aker ASA, on September 17, 2025, 16:30 CEST.
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