benzinga.com via Reddit

OpenAI Eyes 10 GW Ohio Campus With Nvidia Backing

5 sources tracking this story
openai nvidia ai infrastructure ai-infrastructure compute

Key insights

  • The campus is on federal DOE land at Ohio's former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a decommissioned Cold War uranium enrichment facility.
  • SB Energy broke ground in March 2026 following a DOE-SoftBank partnership announcement, meaning construction is underway before any lease closes.
  • Nvidia guarantees both OpenAI's 20-year lease payments and SB Energy's construction financing, acting as financial co-principal on a $500 billion commitment.

Why this matters

The former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a decommissioned Cold War uranium enrichment site on federal DOE land in Pike County, Ohio, is being redeveloped into the largest single-operator AI compute campus ever attempted. SoftBank's SB Energy broke ground in March 2026 before any lease was finalized, and OpenAI and SoftBank each invested $500 million in SB Energy in January 2026, making OpenAI a financial stakeholder in its own prospective landlord. Nvidia's role extends far beyond hardware supply: it is providing financial guarantees for both OpenAI's 20-year lease obligations and SB Energy's construction financing, positioning the chip supplier as a quasi-lender on a $500 billion commitment. At 9.2 GW of planned natural gas generation, the facility is already large enough to force Dominion Energy to raise its capital expenditure plan to $50.1 billion and would alone exceed Northern Virginia's entire existing AI data center capacity.

Summary

OpenAI is in talks to lease a 10-gigawatt data center campus in southern Ohio, built by SoftBank's SB Energy on Department of Energy land, with construction costs estimated at $500 billion or more. The proposed 20-year agreement would have OpenAI overseeing computing gear installed on site, with lease payments beginning only after the facility is operational. First operations are targeted for 2028. Nvidia would supply computing hardware and provide a financial backstop tied to OpenAI's lease obligations. Essentially: (OpenAI, Nvidia, SoftBank's SB Energy) are structuring a combined infrastructure commitment at a scale the AI industry hasn't attempted. - Construction costs are estimated at $500B+ based on current chip, labor, and electricity costs - Nvidia's financial backing directly links its exposure to OpenAI's ability to service the lease - OpenAI previously suspended a U.K. data center plan due to regulatory concerns and high power expenses OpenAI has also filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC for a potential IPO, making this infrastructure bet a defining capital commitment ahead of any public market debut.

Potential risks and opportunities

Risks

  • If OpenAI's revenue growth flattens post-IPO, 20-year lease payments on a $500B+ facility could become a severe balance-sheet liability for a newly public company.
  • Nvidia's financial backstop exposure creates a structural conflict of interest if OpenAI's lease-service capacity depends on continued Nvidia hardware purchases at current pricing.
  • The precedent of OpenAI suspending its U.K. data center over regulatory and power cost concerns shows late-stage project cancellation is possible, leaving SoftBank's SB Energy holding stranded construction risk.

Opportunities

  • Power infrastructure suppliers and grid operators in southern Ohio stand to benefit from provisioning electricity at 10-gigawatt scale across a 20-year contract horizon.
  • SoftBank's SB Energy gains a replicable blueprint for mega-campus development on government land that could attract other hyperscale AI tenants beyond OpenAI.
  • Semiconductor and hardware suppliers across the broader supply chain stand to capture ancillary equipment contracts as a $500B+ buildout requires components well beyond Nvidia's GPU stack alone.

What we don't know yet

  • Whether Nvidia's financial backstop takes the form of a guarantee, equity stake, or credit facility has not been disclosed in public reporting.
  • Specific regulatory or permitting status for the Department of Energy land in southern Ohio is not addressed in current coverage.
  • How OpenAI's pending IPO timeline interacts with finalizing lease obligations worth hundreds of billions has not been explained.

What others are reporting

Coverage cluster as of 2h after publish

  1. The Information Read →

    Original breaking report; sole source for the Nvidia financial guarantee structure and 20-year lease terms before any other outlet confirmed the deal.

  2. Reuters Read →

    Reuters wire confirms Nvidia would guarantee both OpenAI's lease and SB Energy's construction financing and that first operations begin in 2028.

    The campus could cost at least $500 billion to build, based on current prices for chips, labour, power and other inputs.
  3. Sherwood News Read →

    Clarifies DOE land ownership and that SB Energy already broke ground in March, distinguishing this from the prior September deal where only $30B of Nvidia's $100B pledge materialized.

    The facility would cost about $500 billion to build, and OpenAI would own the equipment and be on the hook for 20 years of lease payments.
  4. Cryptopolitan Read →

    Frames the site as converted Cold War nuclear infrastructure; adds that Dominion Energy raised capex to $50.1B due to data center demand and total Stargate costs now exceed $1 trillion.

    Everything starts with compute. Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future.

Originally reported by benzinga.com

Read the original article →

Original headline: OpenAI in Talks to Lease 10-Gigawatt Ohio Data Center From SoftBank's SB Energy With Nvidia Financial Backing