The Norwegian conglomerate turns a 20x return on its software exit into a major stake in Europe's largest AI infrastructure company
Aker ASA just pulled off the largest software exit in Norwegian history. The conglomerate announced the sale of Cognite Holding B.V. to Schneider Electric for an enterprise value of $3.1 billion, netting Aker roughly $1.48 billion in cash proceeds.
That’s approximately 20 times what Aker originally invested in Cognite. And instead of sitting on the cash, Aker is plowing it into Nscale, a European AI infrastructure provider where it now holds around 24% ownership, making it the company’s largest shareholder.
From industrial software to AI data centers #
Cognite built its reputation as an industrial data and AI platform, the kind of software that helps heavy industries make sense of their operational data. Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and industrial automation, was apparently willing to pay a premium to bring that capability in-house.
The sale closed on June 30, 2026, just months after Aker participated in Nscale’s Series C funding round in March 2026. That round raised roughly $2 billion, reportedly the largest Series C in European history.
Nscale’s crypto mining origins #
Nscale emerged from Arkon Energy, which originally operated cryptocurrency mining infrastructure. Nscale repositioned itself around renewable-powered AI data centers and GPU cloud services. The Narvik facility in Norway, which benefits from abundant hydroelectric power and naturally cold temperatures ideal for cooling, became a centerpiece of this transition.
What this means for investors #
Aker’s decision to immediately redeploy proceeds into AI infrastructure reflects a conviction that the picks-and-shovels layer of AI remains undervalued relative to the application layer. Selling a software platform at 20x returns and reinvesting into physical compute infrastructure is a bet that the bottleneck for AI adoption is shifting from software to hardware and energy.
Aker’s 24% stake makes it the largest shareholder in Nscale, and the company’s positioning ahead of a potential public listing suggests Aker sees significant upside remaining. A company that just raised $2 billion in private markets would likely command a substantial premium in a public offering.
Nscale’s Norwegian facilities, powered by hydroelectric energy, give it a structural advantage as European regulators increasingly scrutinize the energy consumption of data centers.
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