Nvidia has committed up to $105 billion in financing and compute resources for a significant new artificial intelligence data center for OpenAI in Pike County, Ohio. This substantial investment, which will see SB Energy building and managing the facility, marks Nvidia’s latest move to underpin the burgeoning AI data center expansion. OpenAI President Greg Brockman emphasized the growing importance of compute power, calling it “the new oil of the AI age.”
Nvidia (NVDA), the dominant force in AI chip manufacturing, has committed an substantial sum of up to $105 billion in financing and compute resources for a brand-new artificial intelligence data center for OpenAI (OPENAI.FG), to be located in Pike County, Ohio. This significant financial backing, detailed in a recent securities filing, underscores Nvidia's critical role in powering the rapidly expanding infrastructure essential for advanced AI development.
The comprehensive financing package is structured to support an initial 4.25 gigawatts of computing capacity, with the flexibility for an additional 3.75 gigawatts. Nvidia will supply the crucial compute power, with the data center's operational capacity anticipated to come online in phases, beginning in 2028.
The construction and ongoing management of this sprawling data center at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus will be overseen by SB Energy, which will operate the facility under a 20-year lease agreement with OpenAI. It is noteworthy that OpenAI holds an equity stake in SB Energy, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was an early investor in the company, signifying a deeply intertwined strategic partnership.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia's CEO, articulated the strategic vision behind this monumental deal: "We are securing long-lived infrastructure for NVIDIA compute so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories that can be upgraded repeatedly with each new generation delivering more intelligence and better economics."
This announcement follows earlier reports by CNBC detailing discussions where Nvidia was considering providing a backstop of up to $250 billion, which would have enabled OpenAI to raise debt for an even larger 10-gigawatt data center at the Ohio location. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported a likely scaling back of that guarantee to less than $120 billion, making the now-confirmed $105 billion figure a significant, albeit adjusted, commitment.
This deal represents the latest in a series of financing maneuvers by Nvidia aimed at bolstering the extensive buildout of AI data centers worldwide. Such substantial financial backing, however, has ignited discussions and raised concerns within the market regarding potential "circular financing" practices within the burgeoning AI sector.
Just last week, Nvidia collaborated with six prominent asset managers to launch financing platforms designed to deploy an astounding $500 billion in third-party capital specifically for various data center projects, highlighting the immense capital demands of the ongoing AI revolution.
Beyond the direct financing for OpenAI's compute requirements, the Ohio project encompasses broader regional investments. SB Energy and SoftBank are slated to develop power sources capable of generating 10 gigawatts of energy and commit at least $4.2 billion to regional grid infrastructure enhancements. Nvidia itself will inject an additional $1.5 billion directly into SB Energy.
OpenAI anticipates that this new data center will be a major economic driver, creating 35,000 new construction jobs through 2032, in addition to establishing 2,500 long-term operational positions. The facility is poised to grant OpenAI unparalleled access to the high-end chips and critical compute power that form the bedrock of advanced AI architecture.
OpenAI President Greg Brockman underscored the fundamental importance of compute resources during an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box":
"Compute is really becoming the new oil, the new limited resource of the AI age."
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify that the data center project is situated in Pike County, Ohio, and not Pike City.
