Norway’s energy regulator has put Nscale, the AI-cloud company whose largest shareholder is Kjell Inge Røkke’s Aker, on notice. On 29 September the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) said that Nscale Norway AS had started building its data centre at Kvandal, in Narvik, without first filing the cost-benefit analysis of surplus-heat use that Norwegian law requires, and ordered the company to submit one by 15 November or face a coercive fine. The notice landed four days after Nscale closed a $3.36 billion pre-IPO convertible financing ahead of its planned New York listing — and at a moment when the company’s own listing documents show that its largest source of revenue is no longer Norway but Portugal.
What NVE is asking for
Since 1 April 2025, anyone planning a data centre above 2 MW in Norway must, under section 7-2 of the Energy Act, carry out a cost-benefit analysis of using the facility’s surplus heat and have it approved by NVE before construction starts. Kvandal has been allocated 230 MW of grid capacity with a possible expansion of 290 MW, so the rule applies. NVE says it first warned Nscale in the summer. “That Nscale did not deliver such an analysis before construction started is serious, and a breach of the Energy Act,” NVE director Inga Nordberg said. Nscale’s head of Scandinavia, Stian Jenssen, told E24 that the company was surprised by the notice, that a draft report went to NVE on 1 September, and that the finished analysis — which he said shows the site can supply significant surplus heat to several users — will be delivered well before the deadline.
Jenssen has described Kvandal to E24 as the largest mainland investment ever made in Norway, with NOK 100 billion committed. The site was already under local scrutiny: on 28 September E24 reported that neighbours and Narvik municipality had raised concerns about grey, silt-laden water in the Prestjordelva river beside the works. In its reply to the municipality, Nscale said the cause was hard to establish, that it had measured more sediment upstream of the site, and that it had taken measures after identifying “certain areas for improvement”.
Where Nscale’s money comes from today
The registration statement Nscale filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 18 September makes Portugal’s weight explicit. In the first half of 2026 the company booked $140.6 million of revenue, of which $73.0 million (52%) came from Portugal, $63.7 million (45%) from Norway and $3.9 million from the United Kingdom. A year earlier Portugal contributed nothing: all of the $10.4 million booked in the first half of 2025 came from Norway, as did $31.8 million of the $33.0 million booked across 2025. Long-lived assets in Portugal rose from $233.9 million at the end of 2025 to $1,477.8 million at 30 June 2026, close behind Norway’s $1,573.8 million.
| Nscale (US$ million) | Revenue H1 2025 | Revenue H1 2026 | Long-lived assets, 31 Dec 2025 | Long-lived assets, 30 Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | — | 73.0 | 233.9 | 1,477.8 |
| Norway | 10.4 | 63.7 | 566.8 | 1,573.8 |
| United Kingdom | — | 3.9 | 93.1 | 870.1 |
| United States, Iceland, other | — | — | 2,136.1 | 4,456.0 |
| Total | 10.4 | 140.6 | 3,029.9 | 8,377.7 |
Source: Nscale Limited, Form S-1 filed with the SEC on 18 September 2026 (geographic information notes to the annual and interim financial statements). Long-lived assets comprise property and equipment and right-of-use assets.
The Portuguese revenue comes from the first building of the SINES Data Campus, where Nscale has deployed more than 12,600 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell Ultra GPUs for Microsoft; its portfolio table lists a 30 MW colocation site in Portugal as active, and its website lists Sines among its partner-run data centres. The next step is a site of its own. On 24 April 2026 Nscale bought SIN02, a 200 MW powered land site on the same campus, for €469.3 million ($548.1 million), of which €377.8 million was still outstanding at the end of June, with substantially all of the remainder due in the second half of 2026. SIN02 is meant to host more than 66,000 NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 GPUs for Microsoft from late 2027.
The pre-IPO round
The financing announced on 25 September consists of convertible loan notes: an initial $2.36 billion tranche at closing and a further $1 billion committed by NVIDIA, with funding expected in mid-November. The notes convert automatically into ordinary shares when the IPO completes (non-voting shares in NVIDIA’s case). Yahoo Finance reported that the round was led by Third Point with Apollo, Citadel, Hudson Bay Capital and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council; Goldman Sachs acted as placement agent. Nscale says it has more than $103 billion of total contracted value and intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NSCL. Several outlets, including Fortune and The Times, have reported a target valuation of around $35 billion.
The Norwegian owner
Aker’s position runs through both countries. According to the S-1, affiliates of Aker ASA hold more than 5% of Nscale’s shares after taking part in its Series B and Series C rounds, subscribing $350 million in the latter; Aker ASA is majority owned by TRG Holding AS, which Røkke controls through The Resource Group TRG AS. Aker and Nscale also own the Norwegian data-centre and GPU projects through 50/50 joint ventures under an agreement signed in July 2025 and finalised that October. E24 describes Aker as Nscale’s largest owner, and Dagens Næringsliv calls the company “Aker-dominated”.
Why this matters for the corridor
For Portugal, the filing turns Sines into the revenue base of a Norwegian-backed company heading for a large New York listing, and the SIN02 purchase commits several hundred million euros more to the site in the months ahead. The NVE notice shows how a Nordic regulator treats the surplus heat from a data centre of this size: as a condition to be settled before construction starts, backed by fines. That comparison will matter as Portugal courts the next wave of projects — Público reported on 26 September that the government has confirmed 44 data-centre projects without yet saying where or how they will be built. For Nordic investors weighing Portuguese capacity, Sines is now the operating proof point in a US prospectus.
Sources: NVE press release of 29 September 2026 (NTB Kommunikasjon); E24 (28 and 29 September 2026); Dagens Næringsliv (29 September 2026); Nscale Limited Form S-1 filed with the SEC on 18 September 2026; Nscale press release of 25 September 2026 and nscale.com site list; Yahoo Finance (25 September 2026); Público (26 September 2026).