Nvidia Considers $250B Credit Backstop for OpenAI Data Center
The chip giant is in talks to guarantee debt for a massive 10-gigawatt facility in Ohio that could exceed $500 billion in total costs.
Nvidia is negotiating a credit backstop worth up to $250 billion to help OpenAI secure financing for an enormous artificial intelligence data center in Pike County, Ohio, according to details first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by CNBC.
The arrangement would allow OpenAI to raise debt for the facility based on Nvidia's creditworthiness, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The guarantee would cover lease and construction costs for the 10-gigawatt campus, though not the Nvidia chips that would power it — those are being negotiated separately.
A facility on unprecedented scale
The proposed data center would occupy a site that previously housed a uranium-enrichment plant. At 10 gigawatts of power capacity, the facility would consume electricity equivalent to roughly 8 million U.S. households annually, based on Energy Information Administration data analyzed by CNBC. Total costs for the campus could surpass $500 billion, one source said.
SoftBank and its subsidiary SB Energy are developing the Ohio site in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. SoftBank, a major OpenAI investor, announced plans with OpenAI earlier this year to invest $1 billion in SB Energy.
Both the site plans and financing discussions remain in flux and could still change, according to sources who requested anonymity due to confidentiality.
Why it matters
This potential backstop illustrates how the AI infrastructure race is creating financial arrangements that dwarf traditional tech investments. A $250 billion credit guarantee would represent one of the largest corporate financing commitments in history, underscoring both the capital intensity of frontier AI and the strategic importance Nvidia places on securing OpenAI as a customer. The structure also reveals how chip makers are evolving from equipment suppliers into infrastructure financiers as they compete to capture the AI buildout.
Shifting investment dynamics
The talks come after previous investment plans between the two companies failed to materialize as announced. In September, Nvidia said it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as part of a strategic partnership involving at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems. That investment never closed, though Nvidia did contribute $30 billion to OpenAI's record-breaking funding round in March.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested that March investment "might be the last time" the company invests in OpenAI before its public offering. OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June but has not disclosed a timeline for going public.
Computing power as competitive moat
OpenAI has been racing to lock down computing resources as competition intensifies from Anthropic, Google, Amazon, and Meta — companies collectively spending hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure. Private investors now value OpenAI at nearly $1 trillion, betting the company can maintain its lead despite mounting pressure from open-weight alternatives, particularly from Chinese developers that could undercut its pricing.
OpenAI launched the current AI boom with ChatGPT in 2022 and views massive computing capacity as essential to meeting future demand for its models and services.
Nvidia and OpenAI both declined to comment on the negotiations. CNBC confirmed the details through sources familiar with the discussions.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: AI Watch.
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