Nvidia guarantees first 4.25GW of OpenAI's Ohio data center

Nvidia has put its balance sheet behind the first 4.25GW of a data center in Pike County, Ohio, that OpenAI will lease in full. The project, led by SoftBank's SB Energy at the Department of Energy's Portsmouth Site, could reach 10GW, a scale that would make it the world's largest data center. CEO Jensen Huang confirmed the arrangement on LinkedIn.

The support is a guarantee with limits. Nvidia is responsible for defined portions of lease and power payments and a specified residual-value commitment. It is not responsible for the full cost of the site or all of the tenant's obligations. The guarantee becomes effective in phases as data centers go into service between 2028 and 2030, and Nvidia's exposure declines as OpenAI makes lease payments.

Huang framed the guarantee as a response to a credit mismatch. Most companies secure land, power, and shell on their own, then buy Nvidia gear. Leading AI labs, he said, are growing faster than their balance sheets and long-term credit profiles can support. OpenAI is the proof: it needed a backer before it could be a tenant at this scale.

The full size of Nvidia's potential exposure is not public. Data Center Dynamics reports that Nvidia is considering a $120bn backstop for the project, a figure that would lower debt costs. Nvidia had initially weighed as much as $250bn, but faced investor pushback over the extent of the risk. The confirmed guarantee is narrower than either number, but the reported consideration gives a sense of the scale.

Nvidia will also invest $1.5bn in SB Energy, down from a reported $3bn. SB Energy, which is preparing for an IPO, is building 10GW of new power generation, including 9.2GW of natural gas, to supply the campus. That generation supports up to 8GW of IT load. SB Energy and SoftBank separately plan to invest at least $4.2bn in regional grid infrastructure through a partnership with AEP Ohio, which they say is designed to protect ratepayers.

The grid piece matters. A facility this size will stress local transmission, and the ratepayer language in the AEP Ohio partnership suggests the cost of new infrastructure will be a matter of public record. The companies have not specified how the cost is split. The guarantee structure, by contrast, is entirely private.

The campus runs on Nvidia hardware exclusively. Ports-Pike will feature Nvidia GPUs and the full-stack DSX AI factory platform, including CPUs, networking, and infrastructure software. Huang said the site will cycle through multiple generations of Nvidia gear over a 20-year term. Each generation is a revenue event for Nvidia, and a site of this size cycles through them on a schedule.

The structure invites questions about circularity. Nvidia supports the site, Nvidia chips fill it, and Nvidia books the revenue. The investor pushback on the earlier $250bn figure suggests the market already weighs that concentration. Nvidia's final approach — a declining guarantee with explicit limits — reads as a response.

For private capital, the deal changes the cast of characters in data center finance. The usual stack puts the tenant's credit at the center, with landlords and lenders relying on a hyperscaler's signature. Here the chipmaker's signature is part of the stack, and it declines along a defined path. If the leading AI labs keep growing faster than their balance sheets, other suppliers may find themselves guaranteeing leases too.

The remaining unknown is the rest of the site. The project can reach 10GW; Nvidia's confirmed support covers 4.25GW. If OpenAI proceeds to the full scale, the remaining land, power, and shell will need another backer. Nvidia has answered for the first phase. The second phase remains an open question.