Nvidia Pledges Up to $105B for OpenAI Data Center in Ohio

Nvidia, the leading AI chip giant, has made a massive commitment to OpenAI's new data center in Ohio. According to an August 17 SEC filing, Nvidia will provide up to $105 billion in financing for the project.

The company is also investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy, a U.S. data center company owned by Japan's SoftBank Group, which is heavily involved in the Ohio project. The new OpenAI facility, located at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, will deliver 8 gigawatts of compute capacity to OpenAI.

Nvidia will be the exclusive provider of the compute, with SB Energy building, owning, and operating the facility under a 20-year lease. The initial credit from Nvidia will support 4.25 gigawatts of this capacity, and it has the option to take the remaining 3.75 gigawatts.

The planned compute is expected to start coming online in 2028. According to Nvidia, the facility will use its infrastructure, including GPUs, CPUs, and networking, which will deliver 'resiliency across the full stack -- facilities, hardware, and software together -- reducing infrastructure overhead and accelerating time to tokens.'

The scale of the Ohio project is vast, with OpenAI claiming it will create 35,000 construction jobs during its six-year buildout, plus another 2,500 long-term operating positions. In tandem with SB Energy, it has also pledged to build power-generating facilities locally capable of delivering 10 gigawatts of energy and invest $4.2 billion in regional grid infrastructure.