Nvidia Weighs $250 Billion Guarantee for OpenAI's Ohio Megacampus
The chip giant is discussing unprecedented financing backing for a 10-gigawatt data center campus in Pike County, signaling deep interdependence between AI's leading lab and its primary hardware supplier.
Nvidia is in advanced talks to provide approximately $250 billion in financing guarantees that would enable OpenAI to lease a 10-gigawatt data center campus in Pike County, southern Ohio, according to Wall Street Journal reporting corroborated by multiple tech outlets.
The proposed facility, being developed by SB Energy (a SoftBank subsidiary) on the site of a former uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, would represent one of the largest corporate financing guarantees in history if completed. The structure is necessary because OpenAI does not carry an investment-grade credit rating despite its $840 billion valuation.
A Two-Part Financing Structure
Beyond the lease guarantee, Nvidia is separately discussing a chip financing arrangement for the facility that could reach $350 billion, according to sources cited by GovCon Wire. Combined, the total project cost could exceed $500 billion when hardware is included.
This layered financing approach reflects the extraordinary capital requirements of next-generation AI infrastructure. OpenAI needs unprecedented amounts of compute power and electricity to train and run its models, forcing the company to pursue partnerships that blend hardware supply, real estate development, and financial engineering.
Timeline and Scale
The first phase of the Ohio campus is expected to come online in 2028 with approximately 800 megawatts of power capacity. The full 10-gigawatt buildout would dwarf typical hyperscale data centers, which usually operate in the 100-300 megawatt range.
Nvidia's involvement extends beyond guarantees. The chipmaker committed $30 billion to OpenAI as part of the AI lab's February 2026 funding round, which totaled $110 billion and included $30 billion from SoftBank and $50 billion from Amazon. That investment replaced an earlier $100 billion multi-year partnership announcement from September 2025 that was not completed.
Strategic Interdependence
The deal underscores how the AI arms race has moved beyond individual data centers to megacampuses with gigawatt-scale power needs. It also signals deep strategic interdependence between the world's leading AI lab and its primary hardware supplier.
For Nvidia, the guarantee structure locks in demand for its chips while helping OpenAI secure the physical infrastructure it needs to remain competitive. For OpenAI, the arrangement provides access to capital markets it cannot reach directly due to its credit profile.
The Pike County location was selected for its access to power infrastructure and available land. The site's history as a uranium enrichment facility means it already had substantial electrical capacity and security infrastructure in place.
Neither Nvidia nor OpenAI has publicly confirmed the talks. The reporting comes from July 26, 2026 Wall Street Journal sources, with corroboration from Tom's Hardware, TechPowerUp, and local Ohio outlets.