Nvidia plays "matchmaker" in Nordics as region becomes more attractive, connects GPU companies with data center operators

Nvidia is introducing companies that hold its GPUs to Nordic data center operators with room to house them, sources have told CNBC, a sign the chipmaker wants to increase its influence spanning the entire AI buildout well beyond just selling chips.

Chipmaker turned matchmaker

According to CNBC’s reporting, published Wednesday, Nvidia reached out to at least one data-center company to talk through potential “offtakers.” These are buyers who lock in compute capacity ahead of time through purchase or lease agreements. One of the sources claimed the introductions were a part of Nvidia’s “value proposition to GPU customers.”

The company is not limiting the effort to Scandinavia and Iceland, as Nvidia has also tried to link an AI infrastructure firm with GPU holders in the United States and Asia. The aim of the effort is to ensure buyers with cash and demand can find the physical space to run the hardware they want.

This “matchmaking” interest from Nvidia extends its reach past just chips and processors, into where those chips will be used. This step will be one deeper into the AI supply chain than the company has previously ventured.

DGX-Ready program certifying Nordic sites

The matchmaking revolves around Nvidia’s DGX-Ready Colocation Data Center program, which vets facilities to run its heaviest AI workloads. Three Nordic operators have met the standards set by Nvidia, and they include atNorth, Bulk Data Centers, and Borealis Data Center.

To earn this certification, a site has to prove it can support liquid cooling, pass component validation, and provide the ecosystem support required to keep deployments from stalling after a customer brings in hardware.

All three certified operators are said to run entirely on renewable energy, and their locations help to keep cooling bills lower as the surrounding air stays cold for most of the year.

Cheap power, cold environment pull projects further north

The Nordic region boasts a great pitch focused on power, land, and temperature. Iceland taps into geothermal power, while Norway and Sweden lean on large hydroelectric supplies. Generally, cool conditions all across the region mean cooling systems draw far less energy than they would in other warmer markets.

Pure DC said in July it would spend 1.5 billion euros on a 110-megawatt campus in Finland, and Microsoft also took additional capacity at an Nscale site in Norway in April.

Crusoe teamed up with atNorth in August 2025 to grow its ICE02 site in Iceland, a build that pairs Nvidia’s DGX GB200 NVL72 systems with Blackwell GPUs. In Norway, the OpenAI-backed Stargate project is targeting 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by the end of 2026.

Over in Iceland, a Verne and nScale effort is aiming to create Europe’s largest liquid-cooled AI GPU installation, running about 4,600 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs.

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