Nvidia Puts $1.5B Into SB Energy for OpenAI Data Center
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- Nvidia is investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy and will be the sole supplier of compute infrastructure at OpenAI's Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio
- Nvidia will provide up to $105 billion in credit to help build the facility, which could scale from an initial 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts, according to SEC filings
- SB Energy will build a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant on the site at an estimated cost of $33 billion, on land owned by the U.S. Department of Energy that previously enriched uranium for the nuclear arsenal and Navy submarines
- Natural gas power plant construction costs have risen 66% in the last two years (per BloombergNEF), and the new plant will compete with export markets for gas supply, potentially tripling natural gas prices in some parts of the country
- SoftBank had previously held $5.8 billion worth of Nvidia stock, which it sold in November to help fund other AI investments, and remains an existing investor in SB Energy alongside OpenAI
Why it matters: Nvidia is now structurally locked in as OpenAI's sole compute supplier for a facility sized to dwarf most existing data centers, deepening the Nvidia-OpenAI dependency cycle. The $33 billion gas plant on a former uranium-enrichment site reveals the AI buildout is no longer just a chip story — it's driving unprecedented energy infrastructure costs that could triple natural gas prices regionally.
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