According to Nvidia's August 17 announcement, OpenAI has signed a 20-year lease for 4.25 gigawatts of initial AI capacity at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. The lease is expected to begin in phases in 2028, with Nvidia providing a $105 billion lease guarantee covering the project. As per Nvidia's SEC filing, the company's combined payment obligations under the guarantee agreements cannot exceed $105 billion. OpenAI remains responsible for paying the lease, with Nvidia facing payment obligations only if OpenAI becomes insolvent and defaults on payments. The guarantee for each section can run until the 20th anniversary of the applicable lease, with Nvidia's obligation potentially ending earlier if OpenAI terminates the lease or achieves satisfactory credit rating. OpenAI has agreed to reimburse Nvidia for any amount Nvidia actually pays the lessor, and the guarantee terminates once OpenAI achieves a satisfactory credit rating.
At the Ohio site, OpenAI will deploy Nvidia's DSX platform across the initial 4.25-gigawatt buildout, combining data center facilities, computing hardware, networking, and software into one system. Nvidia will serve as the campus's exclusive AI compute provider, supplying its DSX AI factory platform with OpenAI's systems using Nvidia's GPUs, CPUs, and networking equipment. The campus will occupy the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and surrounding property in southern Ohio, built across private and federal land. Nvidia has secured the land, power, and building shell required for an initial 4.25 gigawatts of IT load, with the company also holding an option for the remaining 3.75 gigawatts, potentially taking the campus to 8 gigawatts of AI capacity. SB Energy will build, own, and operate the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus under the 20-year lease to OpenAI.
According to Reuters, Nvidia has secured $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group, to finance the AI data center project. The investment will place Nvidia beside existing investors SoftBank Group and OpenAI while providing capital for SB Energy's data center projects. SB Energy and SoftBank plan to build at least 10 gigawatts of new power generation and invest $4.2 billion in Ohio grid infrastructure through an agreement with AEP Ohio. Nvidia secured the initial 4.25 gigawatts and holds an option, at its sole discretion, over the remaining 3.75 gigawatts. The project is expected to support about 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 and create roughly 2,500 permanent operating positions. OpenAI and SB Energy have established an $80 million community benefits fund, with OpenAI adding $40 million to SB Energy's original commitment for affordable energy, workforce training, employment programs, and local economic development.
As reported by The Information, the latest development comes after Nvidia reportedly scaled back its planned financial support for the Ohio data center project. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addressed concerns about circular financing, stating that OpenAI, rather than the chipmaker, will make the lease payments. If OpenAI does not use the capacity, Huang indicated the site could be offered to another eligible customer. Huang described the project as securing long-lived infrastructure for Nvidia compute so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories. "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. The project adds to a series of large infrastructure commitments as AI companies secure electricity, grid connections and data center sites, with OpenAI also diversifying its cloud services and preparing for a possible public listing. The deal represents the latest example of Nvidia financing infrastructure that uses its processors, a strategy that can help drive demand for its chips but has also raised questions about the flow of money between the chipmaker and its largest customers.
As reported by The Information, SB Energy, backed by OpenAI, develops large-scale power and data center infrastructure projects. Founded in 2019, the company is building several data center campuses to support growing AI workload demand. The initial guarantee would cover the data center lease and debt needed to build the project, helping reduce borrowing costs by giving lenders greater confidence in the project's secure financial backing. Nvidia has secured land and power at Ohio's PORTS-Pike Technology Campus for the AI data center that will use its graphics processors and networking gear. The project is part of broader AI infrastructure demand that has increased competition for power and land, with Nvidia saying the capacity could be resold to cloud providers, enterprises, AI laboratories, or startups in its customer network. Reuters notes that the deal highlights how AI companies and their suppliers are increasingly tying together chip supply, power generation and data center construction as they race to expand computing capacity. The guarantee follows Nvidia's August 10 announcement of financing platforms with six asset managers to mobilize more than $500 billion of third-party capital for AI compute.
