OpenAI's largest infrastructure plan ever revealed: leasing a 10GW super data center, equivalent to 4.5 times the power generation capacity of the Hoover Dam.
```
OpenAI is betting on an unprecedented infrastructure plan, attempting to control its computing lifeline through leasing.
The Information, citing two sources, reported that OpenAI is in deep negotiations to lease a planned 10-gigawatt (GW) data center campus on federal land in Ohio, with Nvidia having discussed providing financial backing for the project.
Based on current prices for chips, labor, electricity, and other materials, the total cost of the fully constructed campus will reach at least $500 billion, making it OpenAI's largest infrastructure commitment to date.
The negotiations involve a 20-year lease; under the lease framework, OpenAI will control the equipment on the campus and will be responsible for payments once the project is operating, with the first phase of 800 megawatts (MW) expected to be ready by 2028. The project is being developed by SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary, with the campus located at a former uranium enrichment facility in Pike County, Ohio, about 50 miles from Columbus. Negotiations have not been finalized and the plans are still subject to change.
Nvidia acts as financial backing, exploring a new role
One of the core aspects of the deal structure is that Nvidia is uniquely involved as a "backstop".
Under the discussed plan, Nvidia will provide financial guarantees for OpenAI's lease and SB Energy's future project financing, leveraging its massive balance sheet to underwrite the transaction.
This is a brand-new area for Nvidia.
Previously, Nvidia had indicated willingness to help clients finance data center projects, but had not committed to anything of this scale.
By comparison, Google has agreed to provide debt and lease payment guarantees for Anthropic’s planned data center using Google’s TPU chips. If Nvidia proceeds, it would mark a substantial step toward becoming a "de facto infrastructure financier," which would help lock in chip customers.
It is noteworthy that OpenAI and Nvidia had announced a preliminary agreement last year, in which Nvidia would provide up to $100 billion to OpenAI to build up to 10GW of its own data centers, and discussed leasing GPUs to OpenAI.
However, that agreement was not finalized; Nvidia instead invested $30 billion in OpenAI equity earlier this year.
What does 10GW mean: 4.5 times the Hoover Dam's output
The 10GW scale is extremely rare in the history of global data center construction.
To put it in perspective, this capacity is 4.5 times the Hoover Dam’s power output and far exceeds current gigawatt-level data center projects underway in the US, including Oracle's Abilene, Texas data center operated for OpenAI.
When the campus will be fully completed is still unclear, but the first 800MW phase is expected to be ready by 2028.
Financially, OpenAI will pay at least tens of billions of dollars in rent over the 20-year lease, not including the cost of chips and servers—which generally accounts for about 70% of data center costs.
Based on this estimate, OpenAI will need about $350 billion just to procure Nvidia AI chips. Sources say OpenAI has begun discussions around financing for these chip purchases but whether Nvidia or others will join the leasing or financing remains unclear.
Repurposing a former nuclear weapons material site
The location of the project holds historical significance. The Pike County site in Ohio is owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE), and was once a production base for nuclear weapons materials; it is now part of a redevelopment plan.
The project originated in an agreement between SB Energy and the Trump administration, driven by a DOE internal team led by Tim Walsh and Ankur Bansal, who, under Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s direction, began exploring in 2023 how to develop power plants and AI data centers on DOE-owned land.
In February this year, the US Department of Commerce announced that, as part of a new trade agreement with Japan, SB Energy would invest $33 billion to build a 9.2GW natural gas power plant on the Ohio site; the plant would be owned by the US government, operated by SB Energy, which also committed to pay for power grid upgrades without passing costs to the public.
In March, the project broke ground, with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick among the officials attending.
Officials have described it as one of the world’s largest AI infrastructure projects, emphasizing the strategic value of transforming a former nuclear weapons facility for commercial use. DOE ownership of the site is also regarded as helping the project avoid the community opposition and local regulatory hurdles that often plague large data center projects in other areas.
After “Stargate” failure, OpenAI pivots back to self-managed compute
The Ohio project reflects a deep shift in OpenAI’s infrastructure strategy.
In January, OpenAI announced at the White House the formation of a joint venture with Oracle and SoftBank to advance the “Stargate” plan aiming to build $500 billion in data center capacity, but that plan ultimately failed to proceed. Afterwards, OpenAI shelved recent plans to build its own data centers.
The potential deal with SB Energy would enable OpenAI to take concrete steps to control its own cloud computing capacity and potentially reduce computing costs. CEO Sam Altman has long sought to build multi-gigawatt data center capacity in a single campus, a vision dating back to early 2024 negotiations with Microsoft.
Nevertheless, OpenAI remains heavily dependent on external cloud service providers.
OpenAI’s cloud leasing agreements with Oracle, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will total at least $665 billion over the next five years. Meanwhile, OpenAI secretly filed for an IPO this Monday, and its compute resource procurement arrangements are expected to become a key topic in IPO due diligence.
SB Energy: SoftBank’s key executor
Founded in 2019, SB Energy is controlled by SoftBank, with Ares Management and OpenAI both investors.
OpenAI disclosed in January that it had invested $1 billion in SB Energy and commissioned it to build and operate a 1.2GW data center in Milam County, Texas.
In May, SB Energy announced plans to file for a US IPO. According to Reuters, SB Energy’s sought valuation could exceed $50 billion.
Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market carries risks, and investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account specific investment objectives, financial circumstances, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their own situation. Investing based on this is at your own risk. ```