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SB Energy's IPO filing shows a company with little operational data center experience sitting on a $430 billion backlog, awash in a sea of circular financing.

Why it matters: The SoftBank-backed renewables player is betting its future on helping solve OpenAI's power bottleneck — a precarious perch.

Stunning stat: SB Energy's data center backlog is 2,000 times last year's revenue of $213 million.

By the numbers: The company has zero data centers operating and only 0.8 GW of data centers under construction.

SB's current revenue is derived entirely from its renewable energy business, with initial data center lease revenue not expected until Q4.

It has just 350 employees and acquired its data center development expertise through buying developer Studio 151 in January.

Zoom in: Almost all of SB Energy's data center business comes from an Ohio campus, called Ports-Pike, which is selling compute to OpenAI.

If built, Ports-Pike would be one of the largest data center resources in the world, with 9.2 GW of gas power plants and at least $4.2 billion of regional grid infrastructure.

Friction point: The S-1 notes that SB Energy is "substantially dependent" on OpenAI and warns that deterioration in OpenAI's financial condition could materially harm SB Energy.

It describes SB Energy's relationships with SoftBank and OpenAI as involving "significant and recurring financial flows among related parties."

Community opposition to data center construction is also cited as an operational risk.

State of play: OpenAI, Nvidia and SB Energy are financially intertwined across the data center buildout.

When OpenAI invested $500 million into SB Energy in January, SB Energy also effectively gave OpenAI a multibillion-dollar equity incentive initially tied to leasing space at its campus in Milam County, Texas.

Warrants initially valued at $3.65 billion were worth about $5.5 billion as of June 30. The increase drove a $2.6 billion first-half accounting loss for SB Energy, which records the warrants as a liability.

Nvidia invested $1.5 billion in SB Energy last month and could invest another $1.5 billion at IPO. Nvidia also is providing credit support for Ports-Pike, while OpenAI compensates Nvidia for providing that guarantee. (Presumably there will be a good deal of Nvidia GPUs in the facilities.)

What we're watching: Huge data center campuses reliant on large power and grid investments could be delayed or blocked by growing local backlash, local and state moratoriums, and regions that refuse to issue permits.

SB Energy's S-1 unveils some surprising numbers

The company's data center backlog is 2,000 times its revenue.

Illustration of data center servers on an abstract vector background

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

SB Energy&#x27;s IPO filing shows a company with little operational data center experience sitting on a $430 billion backlog, awash in a sea of circular financing.Why it matters: The SoftBank-backed renewables player is betting its future on helping solve OpenAI&#x27;s power bottleneck — a precarious perch.

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SB Energy's S-1 unveils some surprising numbers

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