Nvidia may help finance OpenAI's $250 billion data centre push
Nvidia is reportedly discussing a $250 billion financing guarantee to support OpenAI's massive AI data centre project in Ohio.
The AI boom now needs more than clever software. It needs land, power, chips and enormous financing. Nvidia is reportedly in talks to back OpenAI's US data centre project with around $250 billion in financing guarantees.
This would help OpenAI get a 10-gigawatt data centre campus on lease. The project is being developed by SoftBank's energy subsidiary in southern Ohio, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A project built for the next generation of AI
The proposed facility could cost more than $500 billion, including the AI chips installed inside the data centre. The reported $250 billion guarantee would help secure funding for the project's lease and debt.
Beyond the data centre project, Nvidia is reportedly also discussing funding for OpenAI's chip purchases, which could be worth as much as $350 billion. If the deal goes ahead, it would be one of the biggest infrastructure investments linked to artificial intelligence.
Why Nvidia's role is important
A financing guarantee gives lenders greater confidence that a project has strong financial backing. For OpenAI, it could make it easier to secure the computing capacity needed to train and run increasingly advanced AI models.
Whereas for Nvidia, the arrangement could strengthen demand for its graphics processing units, or GPUs, which are widely used to power AI because they can process large amounts of data quickly. The reported talks also show that Nvidia is expanding its role beyond supplying chips to supporting the infrastructure that powers AI.
OpenAI looks beyond cloud providers
Until now, OpenAI has largely relied on cloud infrastructure from companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle. The Ohio project could give the company greater control over the computing infrastructure behind services like ChatGPT. That could become valuable as future AI models require more processing power.
The report also states that the first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2028 and could deliver around 800 megawatts of power. The development is also linked to broader energy and investment plans involving Japanese funding for a natural gas plant.
The talks are still unconfirmed
The discussions have not been officially confirmed by the companies involved. Reuters said it could not independently verify the Wall Street Journal report. At the same time, Nvidia, OpenAI and the US Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment outside normal business hours.
Reports also suggest that companies including Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have expressed interest in the project. As companies race to build more powerful AI systems, success will depend not only on better models but also on access to data centres, energy, chips and the financing needed to build them.