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Norway's 2 petabytes of Huawei flash storage and LLM training

blocksandfiles.com

May 25, 2026

4 min read

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63/100

Summary

Norway's National Library is developing a large language model (LLM) for the Norwegian language using 2 petabytes of Huawei OceanStor Dorado flash storage. Marius Husnes, Head of IT Platform, stated that no commercial LLM provider is currently developing a local Norwegian language model.

Key Takeaways

Norway's National Library is developing a sovereign large language model (LLM) for the Norwegian language using 2 petabytes of Huawei OceanStor Dorado flash storage.
The library has the largest digital collection of Norwegian cultural heritage, which includes books, newspapers, and web content, and is legally mandated to preserve this data.
The LLM training process involves overcoming challenges related to data quality, cleaning, and the integration of different storage systems for efficient data pipeline management.
The library is creating its own evaluation tools for the LLM due to the lack of standard metrics for assessing a sovereign Norwegian language model.

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Community Sentiment

Mixed

Positives

The national library's initiative to train a sovereign LLM could enhance the representation of Norwegian culture and language in AI, addressing a significant gap.
The Olivia system's powerful hardware setup, with 448 GPUs, indicates a serious investment in advancing AI capabilities, even if concerns about its utility remain.
The existing user interface of the national library is praised for its functionality, suggesting a strong foundation for integrating AI to improve text searchability.

Concerns

Training a sovereign LLM with limited hardware raises doubts about its effectiveness and usefulness, suggesting a potential waste of resources.
Concerns about the lack of a clear application for the LLM indicate skepticism about its impact on the Norwegian language and culture.
The notion that a locally trained LLM might be inferior to existing models raises questions about the rationale behind this initiative.