Nvidia is reportedly negotiating with OpenAI to provide a $250 billion financial guarantee for a southern Ohio AI data center campus that could become the largest data center project announced in the US. The Wall Street Journal reported that the guarantee would support OpenAI's plan to lease the campus from SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed developer tied to Japan's biggest company.

The proposed Ohio campus has a major US-Japan component. Under a recent US-Japan trade agreement, Japan committed $33 billion for a natural gas power project that would supply electricity to the site, while the US government controls how that power is allocated. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in decisions over which companies receive access to power from the facility.

Nvidia's guarantee would help reassure lenders because OpenAI is an unprofitable private company and does not have an investment-grade credit rating. The guarantee would cover financing linked to the data center lease and construction debt, but it would not cover the Nvidia chips used at the facility. Nvidia is separately discussing financing for OpenAI's AI chip purchases, a potential deal worth $350 billion, and both agreements remain unfinished and could still collapse.

The campus is expected to require about 10 gigawatts of electricity, enough to supply several million homes, and would be built over multiple years. The first phase is expected in 2028, with about 800 megawatts of computing capacity at launch. Including Nvidia's AI chips, the total project could eventually exceed $500 billion, which the report described as the largest announced AI data center development to date.

Japan's $33 billion investment is tied to a natural gas-powered energy project on federal land in Ohio, operated by SB Energy and effectively controlled by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. Construction began in March, when Lutnick, Son and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The US government will pay SB Energy a fee to run the plant, while the US and Japan share electricity revenue until Japan recovers its investment; after that, the US government is expected to receive 90% of the revenue.

OpenAI is one of several companies interested in leasing the Ohio campus. Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also discussed the project with Lutnick in recent weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal. The campus would be OpenAI's first large-scale data center as a tenant and would reduce its reliance on cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle. OpenAI recently raised its projected computing infrastructure spending to about $750 billion through 2030, up from about $600 billion. Nvidia said in its annual report that financing customer data center projects could increase credit-risk exposure and reduce near-term cash flows.

Nvidia is reportedly negotiating with OpenAI to provide a $250 billion financial guarantee for a southern Ohio AI data center campus that could become the largest data center project announced in the US. The Wall Street Journal reported that the guarantee would support OpenAI's plan to lease the campus from SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed developer tied to Japan's biggest company.

The proposed Ohio campus has a major US-Japan component. Under a recent US-Japan trade agreement, Japan committed $33 billion for a natural gas power project that would supply electricity to the site, while the US government controls how that power is allocated. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in decisions over which companies receive access to power from the facility.

Nvidia's guarantee would help reassure lenders because OpenAI is an unprofitable private company and does not have an investment-grade credit rating. The guarantee would cover financing linked to the data center lease and construction debt, but it would not cover the Nvidia chips used at the facility. Nvidia is separately discussing financing for OpenAI's AI chip purchases, a potential deal worth $350 billion, and both agreements remain unfinished and could still collapse.

The campus is expected to require about 10 gigawatts of electricity, enough to supply several million homes, and would be built over multiple years. The first phase is expected in 2028, with about 800 megawatts of computing capacity at launch. Including Nvidia's AI chips, the total project could eventually exceed $500 billion, which the report described as the largest announced AI data center development to date.

Japan's $33 billion investment is tied to a natural gas-powered energy project on federal land in Ohio, operated by SB Energy and effectively controlled by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. Construction began in March, when Lutnick, Son and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The US government will pay SB Energy a fee to run the plant, while the US and Japan share electricity revenue until Japan recovers its investment; after that, the US government is expected to receive 90% of the revenue.

OpenAI is one of several companies interested in leasing the Ohio campus. Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also discussed the project with Lutnick in recent weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal. The campus would be OpenAI's first large-scale data center as a tenant and would reduce its reliance on cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle. OpenAI recently raised its projected computing infrastructure spending to about $750 billion through 2030, up from about $600 billion. Nvidia said in its annual report that financing customer data center projects could increase credit-risk exposure and reduce near-term cash flows.