Nvidia Reportedly in Talks to Guarantee $250 Billion Financing for OpenAI Data Center

Add us on Google

Nvidia is in talks with OpenAI to potentially guarantee $250 billion in financing connected to a planned data center project in southern Ohio, according to The Wall Street Journal. The proposed arrangement would give OpenAI financial backing as it seeks to secure the infrastructure and computing capacity needed to expand its artificial intelligence operations.

The reported guarantee would be tied to a massive data center campus being developed by SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company, on Department of Energy land in Ohio. The project is expected to require 10 gigawatts of power and could cost more than $500 billion if fully built out, according to reporting cited by the Journal. The first phase, with an expected capacity of 800 megawatts, is targeted for 2028.

The scale of the proposed development reflects the enormous infrastructure requirements of the AI industry. Building and operating advanced AI systems requires access to increasingly large amounts of computing power, electricity, data center capacity and specialized chips, pushing technology companies to seek financing structures that extend well beyond traditional venture capital.

The discussions also underline the increasingly close financial relationship between Nvidia and OpenAI. In September 2025, the companies announced a strategic partnership under which OpenAI would deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems for its next-generation AI infrastructure. Nvidia said at the time that it intended to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI progressively as the systems were deployed.

The potential guarantee would represent a different form of involvement from Nvidia’s previously announced investment plans. Rather than simply providing capital, a financial guarantee could help OpenAI obtain debt financing on more favorable terms by using Nvidia’s balance sheet as a form of financial backstop.

The arrangement would also create a significant financial connection between the two companies. OpenAI would reportedly take on long-term lease obligations associated with the data center, while Nvidia could potentially be exposed to those obligations if the guarantee were ultimately finalized. The precise structure and scope of any guarantee, however, remain subject to ongoing negotiations.

The Journal report also said Nvidia is in talks to finance up to $350 billion in chip purchases for the planned facility, potentially adding another layer to an already complex relationship between the AI model developer and its largest chip supplier.

The reported discussions follow earlier reporting that OpenAI was negotiating a long-term lease for a proposed 10-gigawatt Ohio data center campus, with Nvidia potentially providing financial backing. Reuters, citing The Information, reported in June that Nvidia was expected to supply hardware and provide a financial guarantee related to OpenAI’s lease and the project’s financing, although Reuters said it could not independently verify the report at the time.

The Ohio project is part of a wider push to expand U.S. AI infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Energy announced in March a partnership involving SoftBank and AEP Ohio to redevelop federal land in southern Ohio, modernize energy infrastructure and support a planned 10-gigawatt data center development. The initiative includes plans for 10 gigawatts of new power generation, including 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas generation.

For OpenAI, the potential financing arrangement could help address one of the central challenges facing the company as it scales: securing enough computing infrastructure to support its growing AI operations. The company has already entered into major infrastructure and cloud arrangements, while its partnership with Nvidia is designed to support at least 10 gigawatts of next-generation computing capacity.

For Nvidia, the discussions highlight how its position in the AI economy is expanding beyond selling chips. The company is increasingly connected to the financing, infrastructure and deployment of the data centers that use its technology. That creates opportunities to strengthen demand for Nvidia’s systems, but it could also expose the company to additional financial risk if it assumes large guarantees tied to infrastructure projects.

The broader significance is that the AI infrastructure race is increasingly becoming a financing race. As the cost of building large-scale computing facilities reaches hundreds of billions of dollars, AI companies, chipmakers, cloud providers, energy companies and financial institutions are becoming more closely connected.

The reported Nvidia-OpenAI arrangement remains under discussion, however, and the final terms could change. Neither the reported $250 billion guarantee nor the broader financing structure should therefore be treated as a completed transaction at this stage.