OpenAI wants its biggest data center yet, and Nvidia would back the bill

OpenAI is negotiating to lease a planned 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio that could be financially backed by Nvidia, according to The Information. Two people with direct knowledge of the talks shared the details. The site is being built on federal land in southern Ohio and developed by SB Energy, which is majority-owned by OpenAI investor SoftBank.

At full buildout, costs would reach at least $500 billion. OpenAI would sign a 20-year lease, its largest infrastructure commitment to date. Nvidia would serve as guarantor for both the lease and project financing, backing the payments with its balance sheet. That kind of financial guarantee would be new territory for the chipmaker at this scale. The project echoes the Stargate initiative announced at the White House in January 2025 with Oracle and SoftBank, which ultimately made little progress. The first phase at 800 megawatts is expected by 2028.