EU Prosecutors Probe Northern Data’s €500 Million GPU Buy
Containers fitted with data servers inside the Northern Data Lefdal Mine Datacenter in Maloy, Norway.
Photographer: Fredrik Solstad/BloombergA criminal investigation that led to raids of Northern Data AG’s offices last week is focused on whether the company illegally claimed a tax break on about €500 million ($586 million) worth of high-performance computing chips, according to people familiar with the matter.
European prosecutors are looking at Northern Data’s purchase of graphics processing units for a site in northern Sweden, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. They are investigating if Northern Data, which is backed by stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings SA, obtained a tax break by claiming the chips were for artificial intelligence when they were used for cryptocurrency mining, according to the people.