Nvidia is discussing a financing guarantee of as much as $250 billion to help OpenAI lease computing capacity at a proposed artificial-intelligence data-center campus in southern Ohio, according to reports by Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal that cited people familiar with the talks. The negotiations remain at an early stage, and neither company announced a binding agreement.
SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy is overseeing the planned campus, which could ultimately provide 10 gigawatts of capacity and cost more than $500 billion, including equipment. Bloomberg reported that the project is planned for 2028, while Data Center Dynamics said an initial phase of about 800 megawatts is expected that year.
The proposed Nvidia guarantee would support financing vehicles covering construction and OpenAI's lease, rather than the Nvidia chips installed at the site, the reports said. Nvidia is separately discussing potential financing for as much as $350 billion of OpenAI chip purchases. Those figures describe possible maximum commitments under negotiation, not money already transferred.
The campus is planned on US Department of Energy land at a decommissioned uranium-enrichment site. Data Center Dynamics reported that SB Energy intends to build 10 gigawatts of new generation, including 9.2 gigawatts from natural gas. Japan has pledged $33 billion toward the power project under a broader trade arrangement, according to the outlets.
A guarantee from Nvidia could help the developer borrow on more favorable terms because OpenAI is an unprofitable private company without an investment-grade credit rating. It would also deepen financial links between the leading supplier of AI accelerators and one of its largest prospective customers, renewing investor scrutiny of circular financing in the AI infrastructure boom. Axios reported that Nvidia shares fell 4.5 percent in late-morning trading and that the cost of insuring its bonds against default rose sharply.
Representatives for Nvidia and OpenAI had no immediate comment on the reported discussions, Axios said. Key questions remain unresolved, including the final allocation of risk, financing terms, construction schedule and power arrangements. Until contracts are completed, the Ohio campus and Nvidia's possible support remain proposals whose size and structure may change.
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