This Week's Top Five Stories in the Data Centre Industry

Nscale Secures US$790m in Financing for Norwegian AI Campus

Nscale is ramping up its AI data centre ambitions in Norway after securing an additional $790m in financing for its Narvik campus.

It supports continued development of the Narvik site, which Nscale describes as the largest AI infrastructure investment in Norway.

The agreement is also designed to support a further 115MW expansion of the campus.

atNorth Joins Nordic Compass Alliance for AI Infrastructure

As Europe races to build enough infrastructure for the AI boom, Nordic data centre operator atNorth is teaming up with some of the region’s biggest industrial and energy names to help shape what comes next.

The company has joined more than 25 organisations in launching Nordic Compass, a pan-Nordic initative bringing together critical sectors as demand for AI compute continues to climb.

The organisations involved are in strategically important sectors including deep tech, energy, defence and capital markets. Nscale, Ørsted, Ericsson, and Nokia are some of the larger names among the companies currently involved.

Nebius' Strategy for its Gigawatt-Scale Campus in Missouri

The race to build AI infrastructure in the US has reached another milestone, with Nebius breaking ground on a new gigawatt-scale AI factory campus in Independence, Missouri.

The Nasdaq-listed AI cloud company says the development will become its flagship US digital infrastructure project, spanning around 400 acres and designed to support large-scale AI workloads. Construction on the first phase is now underway.

The project reflects a growing demand for hyperscale-ready facilities capable of handling the power, cooling and compute requirements associated with generative AI and advanced machine learning.

Nebius already operates in the Kansas City area and sees the Independence development as a major step in expanding its US footprint.

ABB Commits US$200m to Europe’s Grid Infrastructure

ABB has announced plans to invest around US$200m in its medium-voltage manufacturing operations and Europe's grids over the next three years.

The Swiss engineering company says the investment responds to rising electricity demand across utilities, heavy industry and data centres as operators expand digital infrastructure and AI workloads across Europe.

According to the International Energy Agency, global electricity demand rises by 3.5% each year until 2030, increasing pressure on electricity grids and the equipment needed to support them.

Why TELUS Plans a Sovereign AI Factory Cluster in Canada

Canada is stepping up efforts to keep AI infrastructure within its own borders and TELUS is placing data centres at the core of that strategy.

The telco company is expanding plans for a sovereign AI infrastructure network in British Columbia, backed by the Government of Canada and property developer Westbank, as demand for domestic AI compute capacity continues to rise.

The three-site cluster will combine high-performance GPU infrastructure with renewable energy and district heating systems.