Nvidia confirmed it will provide up to $105 billion in financial guarantees to back OpenAI’s leasing of computing capacity at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, a site previously used as a Cold War uranium enrichment plant [1, 2, 3].
The data center campus is designed to offer up to about 8 gigawatts (GW) of AI computing capacity. The first 800 megawatts (MW) are expected to come online in 2028, with initial financial guarantees phased in between 2028 and 2030 covering 4.25 GW. Nvidia can later support the remaining 3.75 GW to reach the full 8 GW potential [1, 4, 3, 5].
Nvidia also announced a $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed company that will build, own, and operate the Ohio facility. SB Energy and SoftBank plan to build at least 10 GW of new power generation capacity and invest more than $4 billion to upgrade the regional Ohio power grid to support the data center’s energy needs [6, 4, 7, 8].
Nvidia will serve as the exclusive supplier of AI compute infrastructure at the data center. This includes providing GPUs, CPUs, networking equipment, and its DSX AI factory platform [2, 5, 9]. OpenAI has signed a 20-year lease for the campus capacity, paying rent only as capacity comes online. The $105 billion financial guarantee is contingent, triggered only if OpenAI defaults or becomes insolvent, limiting Nvidia’s financial exposure [3, 8, 5].
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that the arrangement is not circular financing. He said, "This is not circular financing; Nvidia is supporting key resources to ensure long-term production capacity for AI computing" and added, "We are securing long-term infrastructure for Nvidia’s computing capacity so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories, which can be upgraded generation after generation to deliver higher intelligence and better economics" [3, 8].
The $105 billion guarantee represents a reduction from earlier rumors of $120 billion to $250 billion, reflecting efforts to limit Nvidia’s financial risk [6, 3]. Nvidia projects this arrangement could generate $150 billion to $200 billion in revenue over time. There is potential for AI compute deployments at the site to grow to 16 GW by 2030, which could yield as much as $600 billion in revenue [3, 5, 9].
The first 800 MW of AI compute capacity is expected online in 2028, marking a key milestone as Nvidia and its partners advance construction and grid upgrades for the PORTS-Pike campus [1, 3].
