Nvidia guarantees $105bn and takes a $1.5bn stake to lock up an Ohio site for OpenAI
The chipmaker becomes the exclusive compute supplier at a Pike County campus OpenAI has leased for 20 years, extending a financing pattern that has drawn scrutiny for funding Nvidia's own biggest customer.
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- Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy and guarantee up to $105 billion in lease and power payment obligations to secure exclusive rights to supply compute at a new Ohio data-center campus built for OpenAI.
- OpenAI has signed a 20-year lease on the site, named PORTS-Pike, designed to scale from an initial 4.25 gigawatts to as much as 8 gigawatts of AI-factory capacity, with the first phase due in 2028.
- SB Energy already counted SoftBank and OpenAI as investors before Nvidia's stake; the arrangement is the latest in a series of Nvidia financing deals for the data-center operators that buy its chips.
- OpenAI and SB Energy are expanding a local community benefits fund to $80 million, and SB Energy says the project's own revenue will cover new grid infrastructure rather than other Ohio ratepayers' bills.
Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy and guarantee up to $105 billion in lease and power payment obligations, the companies said in a joint announcement, securing Nvidia exclusive rights to supply compute at a new AI data-center campus in Pike County, Ohio, built for OpenAI. OpenAI has signed a 20-year lease on the site, which the partners call PORTS-Pike.
The campus is designed to scale from an initial 4.25 gigawatts of IT capacity to as much as 8 gigawatts, with Nvidia holding an option on the additional 3.75 gigawatts. SB Energy and SoftBank plan at least 10 gigawatts of new power generation to support it, and the first phase of capacity is expected online in 2028. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang framed the investment in infrastructure terms: "AI is becoming infrastructure — the foundation for intelligence in every industry — and land, power and shell have become vital." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it "going to be a huge site," adding the company is "proud to build it in Pike County."
SB Energy already counted SoftBank and OpenAI among its investors before this deal, and Nvidia's stake follows a pattern outside investors and reporters have flagged repeatedly this year: the chipmaker financing the very data-center operators and AI labs that are its largest customers for GPUs. Nvidia has now made similar commitments across several OpenAI-linked sites, including an earlier guarantee reported for the same campus.
OpenAI and SB Energy are increasing a local community benefits fund to $80 million, on top of an incremental $40 million OpenAI is contributing, aimed at affordable energy, workforce development and local economic programs. SB Energy has said the project will pay for its own power infrastructure and new transmission lines rather than pass costs to other ratepayers in the state — a commitment regional utility regulators are likely to test as the build-out proceeds.
Every dollar Nvidia puts into the companies buying its chips makes the chip market look busier than end-user demand alone would justify — a circularity several analysts have warned resembles vendor financing in past hardware cycles. Nvidia's counter-argument, made explicitly by Huang, is that GPU capacity is now a productive, revenue-generating asset in its own right rather than a one-time equipment sale, closer to a power plant than a computer. Which framing is right will not be testable for years, but it is the framing investors in Nvidia, OpenAI and every AI-infrastructure fund raised this year are being asked to accept on faith now.