Nvidia weighs $250B guarantee for OpenAI's 10GW Ohio data center

This move signals a pivot in AI infrastructure financing where hardware vendors act as credit backstops for pre-profit developers. For the streaming and video industry, this gargantuan capacity is a prerequisite for scaling generative video models and agentic AI. By securing its own leased facilities, OpenAI gains the physical infrastructure needed to deploy Nvidia's 2027 Rubin Ultra and 2028 Feynman chips, which use die stacking and co-packaged optics to drive performance 10x beyond current standards. Investors should watch the finalized terms of this guarantee, as it ties Nvidia's balance sheet directly to the long-term solvency of its largest customer and the successful IPO of SB Energy.

The Ohio project occupies a decommissioned uranium-enrichment site in Pike County, roughly 50 miles south of Columbus. Per Tom's Hardware (July 2026), the site is one of 16 federal locations opened for data center development, with power allocation overseen by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The energy infrastructure requires 9.2 gigawatts of new natural gas generation and $4.2 billion in transmission upgrades. Funding for these upgrades stems from a $33 billion U.S.-Japan trade agreement, according to GovCon Wire (July 2026), under which Japan committed capital in exchange for lower tariffs.

SoftBank’s involvement is a critical component of its broader AI pivot. Per TradingView (May 2026), SoftBank has engaged major banks for a U.S. IPO of SB Energy, targeting a valuation exceeding $50 billion as soon as September 2026. This offering is part of a strategy to monetize infrastructure assets to fund further AI investments, including an 11% stake in OpenAI. The $250 billion contract with OpenAI would likely solidify investor interest in SB Energy, positioning it as a primary utility provider for the generative AI era.

Nvidia’s expansion into financial backstopping follows a pattern of supporting high-growth compute partners. Per Bloomberg (July 2026), Nvidia has previously invested in cloud providers like CoreWeave and Nebeus to secure long-term demand for its cards. However, the scale of the OpenAI guarantee is unprecedented, representing roughly 71 times the volume of Nvidia's prior lease guarantees, which totaled $3.5 billion in early 2026. Analysts from IBM and Together AI (July 2026) have raised concerns regarding 'circular financing,' where a supplier guarantees the credit of customers who then use those funds to purchase the supplier's products.