Full Breakdown

Nvidia Discusses $250 Billion Financing Guarantee for OpenAI’s Ohio Data Center

7/27/2026, 10:51:18 AM

Core Deal Overview

On July 26, reports indicated Nvidia is in talks to provide roughly $250 billion in financing guarantees to help OpenAI lease a 10-gigawatt data-center campus being built by SoftBank’s energy subsidiary SB Energy in southern Ohio. The guarantee would back the lease and debt financing for the project but would not cover the Nvidia chips that will be installed. Nvidia is also reportedly negotiating a separate financing package of up to $350 billion for OpenAI’s chip purchases.

The campus is planned on the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Pike County, Ohio. SB Energy aims to develop a 10-gigawatt power hub, with at least 9.2 GW supplied by natural-gas generation funded by a $33 billion Japanese investment under a recent U.S.–Japan trade agreement. The U.S. government controls the power allocation, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in deciding site access. OpenAI, which has relied on Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle cloud services, has been in advanced talks for several weeks to become the lessee and operator of the facility. Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also expressed interest in the site.

Planned installed capacity: 10 gigawatts; first phase to deliver about 800 megawatts by 2028.

Power source: at least 9.2 gigawatts from natural-gas generation; $4.2 billion earmarked for transmission upgrades by SB Energy and AEP Ohio.

OpenAI’s credit status: does not have an investment-grade rating, making external credit enhancement critical.

Representatives for Nvidia, OpenAI and the U.S. Commerce Department declined to comment at the time of reporting.

Howard Lutnick previously expressed confidence that the project would move forward and highlighted the expected job creation for the region.

Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, described the overall campus as potentially the largest power-generation site in the United States and suggested total investment could reach $500 billion.

Investors have voiced concern that the financing structure creates “circular financing,” where the same firms that supply chips also back the debt that funds the data-center build-out. This raises questions about market dynamics and the true demand for AI compute capacity.

“While Nvidia’s investments and partnerships reinforce confidence in long-term AI buildouts, investors remain concerned about circular financing,” — Gary Tan, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments

July 26 2026 – Wall Street Journal reports Nvidia’s $250 billion financing talks with OpenAI for the Ohio data-center project.

2028 (expected) – Completion of the first phase delivering ~800 MW of power.

The financing guarantee remains under negotiation; final terms have not been disclosed and could change.

Lenders will assess the credit-enhancement package once Nvidia’s involvement is confirmed, influencing the cost of debt for the SB Energy development.

OpenAI’s lease agreement, including the 20-year term and start of rent payments, will be finalized only after the campus becomes operational.