OpenAI announces massive data center in Ohio with Nvidia guarantee
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OpenAI announced a 10-year lease for a sprawling data center in central Ohio with financing partly guaranteed by Nvidia, saying it will create 35,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent operating positions.
Why it matters: The facility — which will be built and owned by SoftBank's SB Energy — illustrates the immensity of the computing and power needed to fuel the growth of the AI economy.
- It's also likely to reignite fears of a "circular" AI bubble that could create systemic financial risks.
Zoom in: The data center will have 8 IT-gigawatts of computing capacity, powered by 10 gigawatts of new energy generation, on private land and federal property formerly used for uranium enrichment.
- Nvidia — which will be the exclusive provider of chips to the site — agreed to guarantee up to $105 billion in conditional lease and power payment obligations to SB Energy, according to an SEC filing.
- The so-called "land, power and shell" deal structure could allow for multiple upgrade cycles for new generations of Nvidia infrastructure at the site, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on X.
Zoom out: The deal comes amid a wider Trump administration push to bring big, natural gas-powered data center campuses to several Cold War-era nuclear sites.
- Last month, NextEra Energy and investment giant Brookfield announced early stage plans with the Energy Department for development at the Paducah Site, a large Cold War-era uranium enrichment complex in Kentucky that has ceased operations.
A massive 9.2 gigawatts of new gas-fired power is ultimately envisioned for the Ohio project, which U.S. officials say Japan is funding under the 2025 trade and investment deal.
- SB Energy and SoftBank "will build at least 10 GW of new energy generation," a joint announcement from Nvidia, OpenAI and SB Energy states.
- Nvidia also said today that it's investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy to back its "continued evolution into a leading AI infrastructure developer."
Friction point: Huang took to X to reject suggestions that the deal is part of the "circular" AI trend in which customers, investors and suppliers are invested in each other, potentially creating the conditions for a messy collapse if something goes wrong.
- "Is this circular financing? No. OpenAI will pay the lease," Huang said on X, adding that Nvidia is using "its scale and long-term visibility to" enable the site to happen.
What's next: OpenAI said the initial capacity will be available starting in 2028.
Additional reporting by Ben Geman
