Aker Nscale plans to build a new artificial intelligence data center in Korgen, Nordland, Northern Norway. The facility would match the scale of Aker’s ongoing Stargate Norway project in Narvik, developed jointly with OpenAI and Microsoft under a NOK 60 billion agreement. Aker Nscale has purchased power company Nordkraft’s rights to land adjacent to Statkraft’s hydropower facility in Hemnes municipality. The project awaits zoning approval and grid access from system operator Statnett, with an estimated power demand of 250 megawatts. (Rana Blad)
Aker Nscale’s planned AI data center in Korgen marks another step in northern Norway’s efforts to transform from an industrial periphery to a digital frontier. Following Aker’s earlier Stargate Norway project with OpenAI and Microsoft in Narvik, the proposed 250-megawatt facility will reinforce how Arctic regions are being redefined as sites of computational extraction where renewable energy, land, and cool climates become increasingly desirable forms of capital. With anticipation that global data-center electricity demand could double by 2026, Nordic countries have become focal points of this expansion due to their hydropower surplus and political stability.
However, Statnett’s reports already show grid congestion in northern Norway, raising concerns about whether “green” power serve external corporate interests only, providing little benefit to local communities. While development projects such as this one could generate jobs and infrastructure, they also will take energy and territory from north communities to serve growth elsewhere. Municipalities like Narvik and Hemnes are now negotiating industrial futures that hinge on data rather than oil. Geopolitically, the Korgen project also embeds the Arctic more deeply in Western digital networks, tying Norwegian hydropower to transatlantic AI industries. Whether this will empower or further peripheralize Arctic communities remains an open question. (High North News, IEA, Statnett)
Source – https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/arctic-week-take-five-week-20-october-2025/
