Nvidia will provide financial guarantees of up to $105 billion to support the construction and equipment financing of OpenAI new data center campus in Ohio.
Nvidia has agreed to provide a guarantee of up to $105 billion to support OpenAI’s lease of a massive data center campus in Ohio being developed by SoftBank-owned SB Energy, deepening the chipmaker’s role in financing the infrastructure required to sustain the artificial intelligence boom. On Monday, Nvidia announced it will also invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, adding to a growing portfolio of infrastructure investments designed to expand the computing capacity available to customers using its chips.
The agreement signals Nvidia’s evolution beyond its traditional role as an AI processor supplier, as it increasingly finances the data centers, power systems, and supporting infrastructure needed to deploy them. It also raises fresh questions about the financial relationships developing across the AI sector, as chipmakers, cloud providers, model developers, and infrastructure companies grow more interdependent.
Located in Pike County, Ohio, the project will feature up to 8 gigawatts of computing capacity, making it one of the largest AI infrastructure developments announced in the United States. The first 800 megawatts is expected to come online in 2028, with OpenAI set to lease the facility for 20 years. Nvidia will serve as the site’s exclusive chip supplier.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang defended the financing arrangement, pushing back against claims that it constitutes circular financing—where AI companies effectively use funds from suppliers and investors to purchase their products. “We are securing long-lived infrastructure for Nvidia compute so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories that can be upgraded repeatedly with each new generation delivering more intelligence and better economics,” Huang said.
Nvidia clarified that its guarantee will cover only a portion of the project’s lease and power payments, along with a commitment to maintain a minimum property value. It will not cover the full construction costs or all of OpenAI’s obligations. Under the proposed structure, OpenAI remains responsible for rent. Should OpenAI default, Nvidia would cover the shortfall between the guaranteed minimum value and whatever SB Energy recovers by leasing or selling the facility.
According to people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, the final financing structure has not yet been determined, though the project is expected to combine equity and debt. Equity may include proceeds from a potential SB Energy initial public offering alongside direct investment from SoftBank. Once the equity component is established, the remainder could be funded through project-finance loans and potentially public debt instruments such as bonds.
The deal represents an unusually large infrastructure commitment by Nvidia, one that will ultimately drive additional demand for its processors. As AI developers race to secure scarce computing capacity, Nvidia is strategically ensuring that the physical infrastructure required to deploy successive generations of its chips is built ahead of demand. Huang noted that the Ohio facility could generate up to $200 billion in Nvidia revenue over time. Including a potential 3.75-gigawatt expansion, Nvidia expects to sell OpenAI a total of 16 gigawatts of computing capacity and could generate as much as $600 billion in revenue from OpenAI through 2030.
This creates a powerful commercial incentive for Nvidia to help resolve one of the AI industry’s most pressing constraints: the availability of suitable data centers with adequate electricity and grid capacity. Nvidia’s latest commitment follows a separate initiative announced last week, in which the company partnered with six major financial institutions, including BlackRock, to establish financing platforms targeting more than $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure.
The scale of these commitments has intensified scrutiny over whether the industry’s rapid expansion is being propped up by complex financial arrangements among interdependent companies. “Investors are right to be worried about what seems to be a never-ending loop of AI deals but realistically the field of players isn’t all that vast and there was always going to be a degree of circular financing,” said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. “The biggest test is whether these investments ultimately generate decent returns for all those laying out cash and that’s something that can only be figured out further down the line,” she added.
The Ohio project also underscores a challenge becoming as critical to AI development as semiconductors: electricity. The proposed campus will initially operate at 4.25 gigawatts, eventually scaling to 8 gigawatts. One gigawatt of computing power roughly equates to the average electricity consumption of 750,000 U.S. homes. To support the development, SoftBank and SB Energy plan to build at least 10 gigawatts of new power generation and invest $4.2 billion in regional grid infrastructure through a partnership with AEP Ohio.
This level of investment highlights why AI infrastructure planning now prioritizes electricity access over mere land availability. The U.S. power grid faces constraints in several regions, while data center projects have encountered community opposition over rising electricity prices, water consumption, and strain on local infrastructure.
According to OpenAI, the Ohio project is expected to create approximately 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 and roughly 2,500 permanent operating positions. People familiar with the project indicated that significant construction delays due to local opposition are unlikely, citing strong backing from Ohio officials drawn to the anticipated economic benefits. OpenAI and SoftBank have also committed $80 million to community initiatives. The development involves federal land and includes participation from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Energy.
The Ohio campus is part of a broader industry push to build what the sector terms “AI factories”—large-scale computing facilities designed to train and run increasingly sophisticated models. Securing these sites helps Nvidia cultivate a predictable market for future processor generations, while granting OpenAI essential long-term access to computing capacity as it scales its models and services. However, the economics of the arrangement will ultimately hinge on whether AI computing demand grows rapidly enough to justify the massive capital expenditures required to build and operate these facilities.
The 20-year lease secures long-term capacity for OpenAI, while Nvidia’s guarantee transfers a portion of the project’s financial risk to the chipmaker. This structure aligns the interests of three key participants: Nvidia benefits as OpenAI expands its computing footprint, given its exclusive supplier status at the site; OpenAI gains reliable infrastructure for future model development; and SoftBank and SB Energy secure a major long-term customer for a large-scale infrastructure asset. Together, the arrangement ties the fortunes of these three pillars of the AI infrastructure buildout.