Nvidia To Invest $1.5B In SB Energy Under OpenAI Ohio Data Center Deal.
✧ GENERATE BRIEFING +
Nvidia has agreed to invest $ 1.5 billion in SB Energy a SoftBank-backed infrastructure developer as part of a major transaction supporting OpenAI’s planned AI data center campus in Pike County, Ohio. Under the agreement, Nvidia will provide up to $105 billion in credit guarantees for an initial 4.25 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, securing the exclusive rights as the primary AI compute infrastructure provider for the site. The facility is planned to scale to 8 gigawatts (GW) of IT computing capacity, with the initial operations slated to begin in phases starting in 2028. SB Energy will build, own, and operate the data center under a 20 year lease to OpenAI, while SB Energy and SoftBank plan to deploy 10 GW of new regional power generation and allocate $ 4.2 billion toward local grid upgrades.
Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed energy and data center developer, as part of a major agreement to support OpenAI’s planned artificial intelligence data center campus in Ohio.
Under the agreement, Nvidia will also provide up to $105 billion in guarantees to support OpenAI’s 20-year lease of the data center being developed by SB Energy in Pike County, Ohio.
The facility is planned to eventually provide up to 8 gigawatts of computing capacity, making it one of the largest AI infrastructure projects in the United States. The initial deployment supports 4.25 gigawatts, with the first 800 megawatts expected to come online by 2028.
Nvidia’s investment in SB Energy follows a $1 billion investment by OpenAI and SoftBank earlier this year aimed at expanding data center infrastructure.
The deal highlights Nvidia’s growing role beyond supplying AI chips, as the company increasingly helps finance the infrastructure needed to deploy its technology at scale. Nvidia is expected to be the exclusive chip supplier for the Ohio facility.
The company’s financial guarantees will support key project obligations, including lease and power payments and the value of the completed infrastructure. The financing structure is expected to include equity investment, project-finance loans, and bonds.
The agreement has also raised questions about potential circular financing in the AI industry, where chipmakers help fund infrastructure and customers that subsequently purchase their chips. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has defended the strategy, arguing that the scale of AI infrastructure required makes such investments necessary.
The Ohio project is expected to create around 35,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent positions, while approximately $4.2 billion is projected to be invested in upgrades to the local power grid.
The development underscores the rapidly increasing capital requirements for AI infrastructure as technology companies race to secure computing capacity, power, and data center facilities to support next-generation AI systems.
