Cloud startup Volta claims $10B AI lab deal for Norway bit barn

AI cloud startup Volta, backed by Nvidia and Michael Dell, has announced a $10 billion strategic partnership to build an AI factory in Norway. The company, which identifies itself as a vertically integrated AI infrastructure business, aims to finance, construct, and operate AI factories globally. Volta has raised approximately $300 million in its seed and Series A rounds, achieving a valuation of $2.4 billion.

This partnership, which has been identified as a collaboration with model developer Anthropic, is set to utilize Nvidia Vera Rubin systems at the site operated by Bitdeer. The 133 MW facility is the first project in Volta's pipeline, which aims to develop sites with over 1 GW of capacity across North America and Europe. Volta plans to utilize Nvidia's DSX reference architecture and software tooling in the construction and operation of these AI factories, which include digital twins for modeling before construction.

The company claims to have created "the world's first fully vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform," integrating infrastructure finance, datacenters, compute, software, and operations under one roof. This approach, according to Volta, aims to accelerate deployment and reduce financing costs. Volta's founder and CEO, Ricard Boada, described their ambition as building "The Utility of Compute," a utility that provides compute resources as reliably and invisibly as electricity, with transparent pricing and built to endure.