Nvidia negotiating $250 billion guarantee for OpenAI's $500 billion Ohio AI data centre

Nvidia is in talks to provide a $250 billion financing guarantee that would back a lease and debt obligations for OpenAI’s planned AI data centre in southern Ohio. The project, to be built by SB Energy – a SoftBank subsidiary – is slated for a 10‑gigawatt campus at the Portsmouth site in Pike County, with total costs exceeding $500 billion. The first phase aims to deliver about 800 megawatts by 2028, while the broader campus will eventually host 10 GW of compute capacity.

The guarantee would act as a back‑stop for lenders, not a direct equity investment, and Nvidia is also discussing separate financing of up to $350 billion for the GPUs and other hardware OpenAI would purchase. The U.S. Department of Energy has outlined a power plan that includes at least 9.2 GW of natural‑gas generation and new high‑voltage transmission infrastructure, to be funded by SB Energy and AEP Ohio. OpenAI, which lacks an investment‑grade credit rating, would rely on the guarantee to secure the massive capital needed for the campus.

If finalized, the arrangement would deepen Nvidia’s role beyond chip supply to become a key financial partner in one of the world’s largest AI infrastructure projects.