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Nvidia Caps Ohio OpenAI Backstop at $105 Billion as OpenAI Signs 20-Year Lease

The chipmaker will fund and supply an initial 4.25‑gigawatt buildout, a move that locks long‑term demand for its hardware and raises fresh questions about hidden leverage in AI infrastructure financing.

Overview

  • Nvidia disclosed in a public SEC filing on Monday that its combined payment obligations under residual‑value guarantees for OpenAI’s initial 4.25‑gigawatt allocation at the PORTS‑Pike campus are capped at $105 billion and will apply only after specified mitigation steps and an OpenAI default.
  • OpenAI has signed a 20‑year lease for that initial 4.25 GW of capacity at the PORTS‑Pike Technology Campus and will take capacity in phases expected to begin coming online in 2028.
  • As part of the deal Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, serve as the exclusive supplier of Nvidia compute for the initial phase, and hold options to expand its secured capacity up to roughly 8 GW.
  • Project partners led by SB Energy and SoftBank plan at least 10 GW of new power generation and about $4.2 billion in regional grid upgrades to serve the campus, including plans for a large natural‑gas plant to meet the site’s energy needs.
  • The arrangement highlights a broader trend of chipmakers and tech firms using contingent guarantees and equity to finance AI data centers, a pattern that reports say has swelled off‑balance‑sheet commitments to roughly $3 trillion and prompted investor scrutiny that narrowed Nvidia’s earlier, larger backstop talks.