Nvidia Plans to Provide Up to $250 Billion in Financing Backing for OpenAI's Ohio Data Center
Claire Weston
Nvidia is negotiating to back up to $250 billion in debt financing for OpenAI's planned 10-gigawatt AI data center campus in Ohio — a move that would recast Nvidia from chip supplier to capital guarantor of AI infrastructure.
What exactly is the $250 billion backing?
Nvidia would use its own credit to guarantee lease and construction debt for OpenAI's data center campus, up to $250 billion.
The backing excludes Nvidia chip purchases inside the campus — those are negotiated separately.
This means → Nvidia is not betting on "sell more GPUs" but on the campus itself getting built and running.
How big is this data center?
The campus is planned for 10 gigawatts of capacity; total construction cost could exceed $500 billion.
In plain terms = 10 gigawatts powers roughly 8 million U.S. homes for a year — the electricity load of a mid-sized city.
The site is a former uranium-enrichment plant in Pike County, Ohio, being developed by SoftBank's SB Energy with the U.S. Department of Energy.
How deep is Nvidia's capital tie to OpenAI?
Last September Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, but the deal never closed.
In March this year Nvidia put $30 billion into OpenAI's record funding round; CEO Jensen Huang called it "probably" the last pre-IPO investment.
This reflects a relationship that has moved well beyond chip sales into deep capital entanglement.
Where does OpenAI's IPO stand?
OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC in June but has not disclosed a formal listing timeline.
Private investors now value OpenAI at close to $1 trillion.
This means → Nvidia's credit backing at this stage is effectively one more layer of binding before OpenAI goes public — a bet for both sides.
Is this deal done?
Negotiations are ongoing; details are not finalized and the structure could still change.
Nvidia declined to comment.
Put simply = the framework is on the table, but no contract is signed — the deal is still live.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.