Nvidia is reportedly in negotiations to provide a financing guarantee of nearly $250bn for OpenAI in connection with a major data centre development in southern Ohio, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited individuals familiar with the matter.
The guarantees are intended to support OpenAI in leasing a data centre campus being developed by SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank.
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The overall project is projected to exceed $500bn in costs, including hardware to be installed within the facilities.
If agreed, the arrangement would allow OpenAI to secure long-term infrastructure and move away from relying mainly on external cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle.
For Nvidia, the deal would help secure ongoing demand for its chips over a multi-year period.
People familiar with the discussions stated that Nvidia’s guarantee would underwrite various financing vehicles to give lenders reassurance about the project’s security.
The $250bn backstop would address the data centre lease and debt obligations, but not the cost of Nvidia chips destined for use at the site. Discussions have also included a possible deal for Nvidia to finance OpenAI’s chip purchases, totalling up to $350bn.
The first phase of the Ohio data centre campus is planned for completion in 2028, with an initial capacity of around 800MW.
Energy at the site is controlled by the US government and funded by Japanese investment under a recent trade arrangement.
Howard Lutnick, US Commerce Secretary, is reportedly involved in decisions about allocating power for the project.
OpenAI has been in advanced leasing talks for the site for several weeks, while other technology companies, including Anthropic, Microsoft and Google, have also expressed interest, according to the report.
Nvidia, OpenAI and the US Commerce Department have not commented on the report.
The Wall Street Journal noted that final terms have not been decided and the negotiations may still collapse.
Last month, Siemens, alongside Nvidia and Fluence, launched a reference architecture intended for data centres supporting Nvidia’s AI factory platforms.
