Nvidia Pledges Over $100B to Back OpenAI's Massive Ohio AI Data Center Campus

Nvidia is committing more than $100 billion to support OpenAI's new AI campus in Ohio, including an 8 GW, 20‑year data‑center lease and a $1.5 billion investment in SoftBank's SB Energy for power supply. Analysts note the move signals Nvidia's shift from pure chip sales to financing AI infrastructure. The partnership aims to create America's largest AI power plant and data‑center complex.

NVDA will backstop up to $105 billion of lease and power obligations for OpenAI's new AI data-center campus in Ohio, the two companies said on August 17, 2026 . The structure matters as much as the headline number: Nvidia is not writing an equity cheque, it is guaranteeing the financing behind an 8-gigawatt, 10-year lease that OpenAI has signed at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, while also supplying the accelerators that will fill it .

The credit funds the first 4.25 gigawatts of compute capacity, with an option to bring a further 3.75 gigawatts online, and the site is slated to begin operating in 2028 . The campus will be built and managed by SB Energy, a SoftBank Group subsidiary, which also carries responsibility for the power generation: the project requires at least 10 gigawatts of new generating capacity to serve 8 gigawatts of IT load . OpenAI has said the build supports roughly 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 and about 2,500 permanent positions .

For Nvidia this is a step beyond selling chips into a shifting infrastructure bottleneck. Guaranteeing a counterparty's lease and power obligations converts a customer's financing constraint into Nvidia's balance-sheet exposure, and effectively underwrites demand for its own hardware over a decade . Industry commentary has framed the arrangement as the creation of a new asset class in AI financing, where the chip vendor is also the credit support.

The tension to watch is circularity risk. Nvidia's guarantee makes the project financeable, and the project's economics depend on OpenAI generating enough revenue to service a decade of obligations. Investors assessing the trade should track how quickly power comes online at Pike County, whether the option for the additional 3.75 gigawatts is exercised, and how the contingent obligation is disclosed on Nvidia's balance sheet in coming filings.

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