NVIDIA announced up to $250 billion in financing to back OpenAI's proposed Stargate data center hub, enabling centralized deployment of large-scale AI compute infrastructure.
Nvidia is in discussions to provide approximately $250 billion in financing guarantees to OpenAI for one of the world's largest artificial intelligence data centre projects, according to The Wall Street Journal. The proposed financing would support OpenAI's lease of a 10-gigawatt AI data centre campus being developed by SoftBank's energy subsidiary in southern Ohio. The project is estimated to cost more than $500 billion, excluding additional infrastructure investments, and is expected to become a key hub for next-generation AI computing in the United States.
The financing guarantee would cover the data centre lease and related debt financing, while the cost of Nvidia's AI chips would be financed separately. Nvidia is also exploring financing arrangements for up to $350 billion worth of AI chips to power the facility. For OpenAI, the project represents a strategic shift toward building and controlling its own large-scale AI infrastructure, reducing reliance on cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle. Dedicated computing infrastructure would provide OpenAI with greater operational flexibility and long-term capacity for training increasingly sophisticated AI models.
For Nvidia, the agreement would strengthen demand for its industry-leading AI GPUs, which dominate the market for training and deploying advanced AI systems. The financing support is intended to reassure lenders and strengthen investment vehicles backing the project, making it easier to secure large-scale funding. The first phase of the Ohio facility is expected to be operational by 2028, delivering approximately 800 megawatts of computing power, with additional phases expanding capacity over subsequent years. The project is also expected to benefit from separate energy investments linked to a recent US-Japan trade agreement.
This announcement comes amid accelerating global collaboration on AI infrastructure. Earlier this month, South Korean technology companies and global firms, including Nvidia, explored collaborative projects worth around $950 billion. Among the proposals is a long-term agreement under which SK Group would supply approximately $750 billion worth of high-performance semiconductors to leading technology companies, including Nvidia. Discussions involved senior industry leaders including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, highlighting the accelerating race to build computing infrastructure needed for next-generation artificial intelligence.