Nvidia to Back Ohio Data Center With as Much as $105 Billion
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- Nvidia agreed to spend up to $105 billion backing a data center in Pike County, Ohio — one of the world's largest — to guarantee 'lease and power payments' per CEO Jensen Huang's blog post.
- OpenAI signed a 20-year lease for 8 gigawatts of computing capacity at the site — enough to power about six million U.S. households — but will pay only as completed capacity becomes available, starting in 2028.
- Nvidia's commitment covers 4.25 of the 8 gigawatts with the option to extend to the remaining capacity; the broader project could cost as much as $500 billion.
- SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary, will build, own and operate the Ohio site; Nvidia said Monday it will invest $1.5 billion in the company.
- Huang rejected concerns about circular AI dealmaking, writing the financing 'is not circular because OpenAI will pay the lease' — though Nvidia previously invested $30 billion in OpenAI and had discussed a larger $250 billion backing figure.
- Last week, Nvidia and six asset managers, private equity firms and banks announced an effort to raise $500 billion in financing for customers to pay for chips, data centers and computing power.
Why it matters: Nvidia's $105 billion guarantee directly addresses Jensen Huang's own claim that 'A.I. labs are growing faster than their balance sheets and long-term credit profiles can support.' The 20-year lease locks OpenAI into 8 gigawatts of capacity it couldn't self-finance, while giving Nvidia a long-duration claim on its compute bill — which Huang argues makes the deal 'not circular' despite Nvidia's prior $30 billion OpenAI investment.
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