NVIDIA Backs OpenAI’s Gigantic 8GW Ohio AI Mega-Campus In Restructured Deal

by Paul Lilly — Monday, August 17, 2026, 09:02 AM EDT

NVIDIA has officially finalized a land, power, and shell (LPS) financial guarantee for OpenAI's massive 10-gigawatt data center in Pike County, Ohio, cutting its initial commitment to financing 4.25 IT-gigawatts (IT-GW). initially. Building on earlier discussions where OpenAI sought financial backing to secure infrastructure loans, the confirmed deal focuses on the first phase of the development, while giving NVIDIA an option to extend coverage to the full 8 IT-GW site later.

This does not necessarily mean NVIDIA will not end up spending significantly more in the long run. Developed in partnership with SoftBank’s SB Energy, the deal secures capacity at the newly named PORTS-Pike Technology Campus. Under the terms of the deal, SB Energy will build, own, and operate the facility under a 20-year lease directly to OpenAI, with NVIDIA serving as the exclusive AI compute infrastructure provider.

Data center racks — Data center - Image: NVIDIA

NVIDIA also confirmed it is making a direct $1.5 billion equity investment into SB Energy to support regional grid infrastructure and site development. Capacity at the site is scheduled to come online in multiple phases starting in 2028.

"AI is becoming infrastructure—the foundation for intelligence in every industry—and land, power and shell have become vital in the age of AI. Now is the time to scale the AI infrastructure that will power the next industrial revolution," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "We are securing long-lived infrastructure for NVIDIA compute so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories that can be upgraded repeatedly with each new generation delivering more intelligence and better economics."

It's not entirely clear why the terms of the deal are being altered from initial investments, though it likely stems from investor pushback. Following initial reports of a proposed $250 billion guarantee, NVIDIA's stock fell 5%, indicating investors are wary of the risk such a massive financial commitment entails. In a blog post addressing the structure, Huang noted that its financial support is limited to defined portions of lease and power payments along with residual-value commitments, rather than guaranteeing the entire site or all of the tenant's obligations.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA and OpenAI are reportedly engaged in separate discussions to finance chip purchases, which could ultimately total up to $350 billion across the life of the project. For OpenAI, the 20-year lease at the PORTS-Pike facility marks its first directly leased data center campus. This would be a key strategic milestone aimed at reducing its long-term reliance on third-party cloud hyperscalers while taking direct control over its physical compute infrastructure.

Tags: Nvidia, data center, AI, (nasdaq:nvda), openai

Paul Lilly

Paul is a seasoned geek who cut this teeth on the Commodore 64. When he's not geeking out to tech, he's out riding his Harley and collecting stray cats.