Nvidia and SB Energy to Build 8GW Ohio AI Data Center with OpenAI as 20-Year Tenant
Nvidia announced a multi-year partnership with SB Energy to host NVIDIA AI computing exclusively at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, with OpenAI signed as tenant for 8 IT-GW of capacity under a 20-year lease. Nvidia is investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy, providing credit support for the first 4.25 GW of land, power, and shell (LPS) construction, and—per reports—up to $105 billion in lease guarantees. The move marks another step in Nvidia's shift from chip supplier toward infrastructure investment and customer lock-in.
Confirmed
- The campus sits on a former Cold War-era uranium enrichment site in Pike County, Ohio; SB Energy will build, own and operate it, with DOE also a partner. Per reports, it plans 8 GW of power and roughly 1.5 million GPUs, equivalent to about 52 top-tier AI supercomputing centers
- OpenAI's lease starts at 4.25 IT-GW with an option to add 3.75 IT-GW for a total of 8 IT-GW, securing about 8 GW of power capacity for 20 years
- Nvidia provides credit support for the first 4.25 GW of LPS construction; per reports it has provided a lease guarantee of up to $105 billion
- @eyishazyer clarified the structure: Nvidia is not directly funding the data center but provides a residual-value guarantee to landlord SB Energy; SB Energy builds and operates, OpenAI leases capacity, Nvidia supplies hardware
- OpenAI said SB Energy will fully fund the grid upgrades needed to serve the data center, and OpenAI will deploy Nvidia's full-stack DSX AI factory platform
- The six-year build to 2032 is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs; OpenAI framed the deal as bolstering US AI leadership
Why it matters
- The deal extends Nvidia's "invest for capacity orders" playbook—using investment, credit support and guarantees to lock in a 20-year OpenAI lease, deepening its grip on the AI compute supply chain
- Citing @firstadopter: as compute becomes revenue in the AI economy, land, power and shell (LPS) are the key strategic resources after chips, a view Jensen Huang shares; frontier labs often cannot secure them independently
- Citing @Hesamation: the 8 GW OpenAI secured is about 8.6x the total capacity (0.93 GW) of the EU's seven-factory AI plan, underscoring the US-Europe compute gap
- The 8 GW-scale campus ranks among the largest US compute builds, and siting it at a former nuclear materials site reflects compute infrastructure migrating to power- and land-rich regions
2026-08-17 ~ 2026-08-18 · 17 related posts
- Episode 1: Nvidia Partners with Wall Street for $500B AI Funding; OpenAI Buys Back $7B in Staff Shares(2026-08-11, 51 posts)
- Episode 2: Nvidia Partners with Wall Street Giants for $500B AI Infrastructure Fund(2026-08-12, 8 posts)
- Episode 3: Nvidia's Compute Securitization Plan Slammed by Michael Burry and Critics(2026-08-12, 2 posts)
- Episode 4: Big Short Investor Warns Nvidia AI Hype Like Enron(2026-08-13, 3 posts)
- Episode 5: Nvidia to Cut OpenAI Data Center Guarantee to $120B(2026-08-15, 4 posts)
- Episode 6: NVIDIA, Goldman Sachs Mobilize $500B for AI Infrastructure with GPUs as Collateral(2026-08-15, 2 posts)
- Episode 7: Nvidia Reportedly in Talks to Invest Up to $3B in SoftBank's SB Energy and Back $100B for OpenAI Data Center(2026-08-16, 7 posts)
- Episode 8: Nvidia and SB Energy to Build 8GW Ohio AI Data Center with OpenAI as 20-Year Tenant(2026-08-17, 17 posts)
- Episode 9: Nvidia Partners with Six Asset Managers on $500B AI Compute Financing Platform(2026-08-18, 3 posts)
Primary sources
- [source] NVIDIA to Provide Exclusive AI Infrastructure at Ohio Campus for OpenAI — nvidia · 2026-08-17
- Nvidia: Land, Power, and Shell Are Critical Resources for AI Factories — firstadopter · 2026-08-17
- [source] OpenAI inks Pike County, Ohio data center deal with SB Energy, NVIDIA, DOE — OpenAINewsroom · 2026-08-17
- OpenAI Leases 8GW Capacity in Ohio, 8.6× EU's "AI Continent" Plan — Hesamation · 2026-08-18
- Nvidia Backs OpenAI's Ohio AI Data Center With up to $105B Guarantee — 创业邦 · 2026-08-18
- Nvidia guarantees landlord payments for OpenAI's Ohio data center, not direct funding — eyishazyer · 2026-08-18
- Nvidia, OpenAI, SoftBank to Build 8GW AI Factory on Nuclear Waste Site — 新智元 · 2026-08-18
10 near-duplicate retellings: nvidia · firstadopter · firstadopter · firstadopter · firstadopter · rohanpaul_ai · rohanpaul_ai · heyshrutimishra · Moh1tAgarwal · rohanpaul_ai