OpenAI has signed a 20-year Ohio data centre lease, with Nvidia guaranteeing payments big enough to frighten the accountants.
According to Axios: OpenAI announced a 20-year lease for a sprawling central Ohio data centre, partly guaranteed by Nvidia. The outfit claims the project will create 35,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent operating roles.
The facility will be built and owned by SoftBank’s SB Energy. It shows the ridiculous scale of computing and power now needed to keep the AI circus spinning.
The project is likely to stir fresh fears of a “circular” AI bubble, where customers, suppliers and investors keep propping each other up. The data centre will have 8 IT-gigawatts of computing capacity and will be powered by 10 gigawatts of new energy generation. It will sit on private land and federal property once used for uranium enrichment.
Nvidia will be the exclusive chip provider for the site and has agreed to guarantee up to $105 billion in conditional lease and power payment obligations to SB Energy, according to an SEC filing. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on X that the “land, power and shell” structure could support several upgrade cycles for new generations of Nvidia infrastructure.
A huge 9.2 gigawatts of new gas-fired power is ultimately planned for the Ohio project. US officials said Japan is funding the scheme under the 2025 trade and investment deal.
SB Energy and SoftBank “will build at least 10 GW of new energy generation,” according to a joint announcement from Nvidia, OpenAI and SB Energy. Nvidia said it is investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy to back its “continued evolution into a leading AI infrastructure developer.”
Huang rejected claims that the deal is part of the AI industry’s circular financing wheeze saying:
“Is this circular financing? No. OpenAI will pay the lease… Nvidia is using “its scale and long-term visibility to” make the site happen.”
OpenAI said initial capacity will be available from 2028.
