OpenAI wants its biggest data center yet, and Nvidia would back the bill
Quick Answer
OpenAI is in talks to lease a 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio, potentially funded by Nvidia.
Quick Take
This facility would be OpenAI's largest yet, enhancing its computational capabilities significantly.
Key Points
- The data center is planned to have a capacity of 10 gigawatts.
- Nvidia may provide financial backing for the project.
- This facility would be OpenAI's largest data center to date.
- The move aims to enhance OpenAI's computational resources significantly.
- Negotiations are ongoing, with no final agreements reported yet.
📖 Reader Mode
~1 min readOpenAI is negotiating to lease a planned 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio that could be financially backed by Nvidia, according to The Information. Two people with direct knowledge of the talks shared the details. The site is being built on federal land in southern Ohio and developed by SB Energy, which is majority-owned by OpenAI investor SoftBank.
At full buildout, costs would reach at least $500 billion. OpenAI would sign a 20-year lease, its largest infrastructure commitment to date. Nvidia would serve as guarantor for both the lease and project financing, backing the payments with its balance sheet. That kind of financial guarantee would be new territory for the chipmaker at this scale. The project echoes the Stargate initiative announced at the White House in January 2025 with Oracle and SoftBank, which ultimately made little progress. The first phase at 800 megawatts is expected by 2028.
The site previously housed a uranium enrichment facility in Pike County. Negotiations are still ongoing, and plans could change. On Monday, OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO.
— Originally published at the-decoder.com
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