The artificial intelligence landscape is rapidly evolving, marked by significant infrastructure investments and strategic partnerships aimed at enhancing compute capabilities and sustainable practices. Recent announcements from CoreWeave, Bulk Infrastructure, and SoftBank highlight this trend, showcasing substantial commitments to expanding AI data centers and deploying cutting-edge technology across Europe and Asia.

CoreWeave and Bulk Infrastructure Partnership

CoreWeave, recognized as the AI Hyperscaler™, has joined forces with Bulk Infrastructure, a prominent provider of sustainable digital infrastructure, to establish a major NVIDIA AI deployment at the N01 Datacenter Campus in Vennesla, Norway. This collaboration aims to create one of the largest NVIDIA AI deployments in Europe, utilizing Bulk's N01 Datacenter Campus to host a large-scale NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 cluster. The cluster will be interconnected with ultra-fast NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking, significantly boosting compute capacity in Norway. The project is slated to be operational by Summer 2025.

In 2024, CoreWeave announced an initial investment of $2.2 billion across Europe, dedicated to building new data centers powered by 100 percent renewable energy. This initiative underscores CoreWeave's commitment to sustainable AI infrastructure.

Karianne Tung, the Norwegian minister of digitalisation and public governance, expressed her support for the partnership, stating, "The goal of the Norwegian government is to establish a national infrastructure for AI towards 2030. Norway being selected as one of the host countries for CoreWeave's expanded AI-infrastructure in Europe, shows we are attractive internationally as a location for high quality data center-services. As minister of digitalisation, I am confident that the Bulk-CoreWeave partnership will add value to the further development of AI in Norway."

Mike Mattacola, Chief Business Officer at CoreWeave, emphasized the strategic importance of the partnership: "We're excited to partner with Bulk to further expand our regional footprint and capacity in Europe to support the growing need for AI and high-performance computing across the region. Bulk's commitment to sustainability, future-proof infrastructure and ability to scale supporting our expansion plans make them an ideal partner in Norway."

Jon Gravråk, CEO of Bulk Infrastructure, highlighted the significance of the collaboration for his company: "Working with a globally renowned AI-company like CoreWeave marks a significant milestone for Bulk. Securing an AI deployment of this size demonstrates our capability to meet the needs of our major customers. Our N01 Datacenter Campus is uniquely equipped to meet the stringent demands of AI workloads, and this collaboration aligns perfectly with our mission to provide sustainable and scalable digital infrastructure solutions."

Jaap Zuiderveld, Vice President EMEA at NVIDIA, noted the importance of such partnerships in scaling AI compute capacity: "We need partners like Bulk building the latest large scale liquid ready AI data centers and CoreWeave building and deploying leading AI infrastructure to satisfy the needs of our customers across Europe. The deployment of this large-scale NVIDIA GB200 cluster by CoreWeave and Bulk represents a significant step in scaling advanced AI compute capacity across Europe in one of the region's most sustainable locations."

The N01 Datacenter Campus, located in Southern Norway's Agder region, benefits from direct and redundant connections to multiple hydropower stations, ensuring 100% renewable energy supply. Bulk has secured 400 MW at the site, with the potential to expand up to 1GW.

SoftBank and OpenAI Collaboration in Japan

In a parallel development, SoftBank is planning to convert a former Sharp LCD panel plant in Japan into a data center in collaboration with OpenAI. According to a Nikkei report from March 14, 2025, SoftBank intends to purchase the facility and part of the land at Sharp’s closed TV LCD factory in Osaka for approximately 100 billion yen ($677.05 million). The center is expected to commence operations in 2026 and will be one of the largest in Japan, with a power capacity of 150 megawatts.

The partnership aims to commercialize OpenAI's AI agent model in Japan, training the model on client companies' data to offer customized AI agents. The investment is projected to be significant, potentially reaching 1 trillion yen ($6.77 billion).

Broader Implications

These developments underscore the growing importance of robust and sustainable digital infrastructure to support the expanding AI industry. The collaborations between CoreWeave and Bulk Infrastructure in Europe, and SoftBank and OpenAI in Japan, highlight the strategic investments being made to meet the increasing demand for AI compute power. These initiatives not only enhance technological capabilities but also emphasize the importance of sustainability in the future of AI infrastructure.