OpenAI leases 10-gigawatt AI data center campus from SoftBank's SB Energy

OpenAI has signed a 20-year lease for a sprawling data center campus in Ohio, built on the premises of a former uranium processing plant. The construction project is led by SB Energy, a SoftBank Group Corp. unit that develops data centers and energy infrastructure. SB Energy will own and operate the Ohio campus once construction is complete.

The site will be supported by at least 10 gigawatts of new energy infrastructure. SB Energy plans to build a $33 billion power plant and link it to the data center campus using $4.2 billion worth of power transmission lines. OpenAI did not disclose the cost of the campus itself, but according to the Wall Street Journal, the site is set to host hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia Corp. chips.

Nvidia is backstopping the first 4.25 gigawatts of data center capacity and could extend credit support to the entire campus. The company has reportedly agreed to cover SB Energy's losses if OpenAI scraps the lease and no other tenant is found, potentially paying up to $105 billion if SoftBank has to sell the site.

"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," said Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang.

The campus will use closed-loop, air-cooled cooling systems that require less water than traditional data center cooling systems, which evaporate water to absorb server heat and must be continuously refilled. In closed-loop cooling, the coolant is typically a mix of water and propylene glycol, a food additive that prevents freezing and reduces corrosion. The water undergoes a filtering process to remove minerals, reducing conductivity and lowering the risk to data center electronics. Pumps circulate the coolant through server racks to absorb heat from the graphics cards; the warm water is then routed outside the data center, where fans cool it by running air over the pipes. The coolant subsequently returns to the server racks and the cycle repeats.

OpenAI expects construction to run through 2032, with the first 800 megawatts of computing capacity scheduled to come online in 2028. The company projects the project will create 35,000 construction jobs and 2,500 long-term data center maintenance roles.

Nvidia is buying a $1.5 billion stake in SB Energy to support the project. The chipmaker could realize a return well before construction is complete: SB Energy reportedly plans to go public as early as next month, seeking a valuation of up to $50 billion.