Bitdeer lands a $4.7 billion AI data center lease deal in Norway, securing gigawatt-scale capacity in Europe and pivoting from cryptocurrency mining to AI infrastructure.
Bitdeer Technologies Group has entered the artificial intelligence infrastructure colocation market through a 16-year data center lease and services agreement at its Tydal campus in Norway. The agreement, executed with Volta Tydal AS, a subsidiary of AI infrastructure platform Volta, represents approximately $4.7 billion in contracted revenue during its base term, according to Chief Strategy Officer Haris Basit. An embedded eight-year renewal option could raise the potential value of the arrangement to about $8 billion over 24 years.
Under the deal, Bitdeer will lease 121 IT megawatts, supported by 133 gross megawatts, to Volta. The facility will be configured across four existing data halls to operate NVIDIA Rubin GPUs, with Dell Technologies serving as the technology provider. Volta's sole end customer at the site will be a leading AI lab, though the customer remains unidentified.
The deployment is divided into two equal phases of 60.5 IT megawatts each. Phase one, spanning data halls two and three and a portion of data hall one, is targeted to begin December 31, 2026. The second phase, covering data hall four and the remainder of hall one, is targeted to commence by March 31, 2027. Bitdeer expects average annual revenue of approximately $290 million with a 90% net operating income margin.
Bitdeer is also in early development stages for two additional data halls at Tydal totaling 47 gross megawatts. Those halls are outside the Volta lease, with a target completion date in the second half of 2027. Chief Financial Officer Michael Potter noted the modified gross lease has an initial combined rate of about $160 per kilowatt per month, including base rent and service fees. Electricity costs will be reimbursed on a pass-through basis. The lease includes a 3% annual escalator on both base rent and service fees, with the average realized rate over the 16-year base term expected to reach approximately $202 per kilowatt per month.
Volta's obligations are expected to be backed by credit support issued severally by J.P. Morgan and other top-tier global financial institutions totaling approximately $1.3 billion. Bitdeer will retain ownership of the Tydal campus and plans to raise additional debt financing to fund the remaining build-out, with approximately $500 million in remaining capital expenditures.
The facility is powered by renewable hydropower directly connected to Norway's grid and a regional network of 16 hydropower stations and a wind farm. Bitdeer is upgrading electrical systems to meet 4N/3 redundancy requirements for NVIDIA's Rubin NVL72 racks. The full 180-megawatt gross capacity is protected by four independent 60-megawatt-hour battery energy storage systems. The campus uses two independent water supplies for a closed-loop hydrocooling system with a power usage effectiveness of approximately 1.1. Connectivity is supported by redundant, carrier-neutral fiber infrastructure from providers Telenor and NT Telecom.
Bitdeer plans to export waste heat from the data halls to an adjacent 112,000-square-meter business area being developed for potential users, including possible local food-production businesses. Bitdeer describes the arrangement as a proof point for converting its power assets into long-term contracted AI and high-performance computing revenue, with approximately 3 gigawatts of capacity across multiple continents and expectations to replicate the model at North American sites.