# Nvidia backstops $105bn of OpenAI's Ohio data centre bet

> Nvidia will guarantee up to $105bn in financing for OpenAI's new Ohio data centre.

*The chipmaker is guaranteeing financing for a 4.25-gigawatt campus it will also supply with compute, deepening its financial ties to its biggest customer.*

By Bez · InsidersFeed
Canonical: https://insidersfeed.com/news/nvidia-backstops-105bn-of-openai-s-ohio-data-centre-bet

Nvidia is putting its balance sheet behind the company that buys most of its chips. An SEC filing on 17 August 2026 showed Nvidia will provide up to $105 billion in financing support for a new OpenAI data centre at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, a scale that ties the chipmaker's fortunes to OpenAI's build-out more tightly than any prior arrangement between the two.

The initial commitment covers 4.25 gigawatts, with an option to expand by another 3.75 GW. Nvidia also supplies the compute for the site. The first 800 megawatts are due online in 2028. SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary in which OpenAI holds a stake and where Sam Altman was an early investor, will build and operate the campus and lease it to OpenAI for 20 years.

Most of the $105 billion is guarantee, not cash outlay. Nvidia's exposure is tied to the residual value of the leased infrastructure and capped at that figure; if SB Energy defaults, Nvidia covers the gap between a guaranteed value and what SB Energy actually recovers. OpenAI has agreed to repay Nvidia for anything it pays out under the arrangement, limiting Nvidia's ultimate risk if OpenAI stays solvent.

The Ohio deal sits inside a wider power and jobs push. SB Energy and SoftBank plan to build power for 10 GW of capacity and invest at least $4.2 billion in the regional grid; Nvidia is separately putting $1.5 billion into SB Energy. OpenAI projects 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 and 2,500 long-term positions. The final structure is smaller than earlier reporting suggested: Nvidia had discussed a backstop of up to $250 billion for 10 GW, before cutting that to under $120 billion.

The commitment lands a week after Nvidia signed agreements with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to raise more than $500 billion of outside capital for AI infrastructure, [according to CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/17/nvidia-financing-open-ai-data-center-ohio.html). Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive, framed the Ohio guarantee as a compute play rather than a financing favour: "We are securing long-lived infrastructure for NVIDIA compute so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories."

## The Insider view

Critics call this circular financing: a chip supplier underwriting its own customer's demand for its chips, [Data Center Knowledge reported](https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/data-center-construction/nvidia-backs-openai-s-ohio-data-center-buildout-with-105b-guarantee). Huang rejects the label, but the mechanics invite the comparison — Nvidia's guarantee makes the Ohio campus financeable, and the campus buys Nvidia's compute. That loop doesn't put Nvidia on the hook for $105 billion in cash unless OpenAI defaults, but it does make Nvidia's credit a load-bearing part of OpenAI's infrastructure ambitions.

Watch the gap between the $250 billion floated earlier and the $105 billion signed: Nvidia scaled back its exposure even as it kept supplying the compute, a sign it wants OpenAI's growth without carrying the full downside. SB Energy and SoftBank absorb the operating risk; Nvidia absorbs a bounded tail risk; OpenAI gets 20 years of capacity without owning the asset. For rival cloud and chip players, the signal is that Nvidia will now use its own balance sheet, not just its products, to lock in its largest customer.

## Key takeaways

- Nvidia guarantees up to $105bn for a 4.25GW OpenAI campus, with room to expand to 8GW
- Structure is mostly risk-cover, not cash: Nvidia pays only on default, and OpenAI must repay it
- Deal follows Nvidia's $500bn-plus capital push with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR

## Sources

- [Nvidia backing $105 billion in financing for OpenAI data center in Ohio](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/17/nvidia-financing-open-ai-data-center-ohio.html) — CNBC, 2026-08-17
- [Nvidia Backs OpenAI's Ohio Data Center Buildout With $105B Guarantee](https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/data-center-construction/nvidia-backs-openai-s-ohio-data-center-buildout-with-105b-guarantee) — Data Center Knowledge, 2026-08-18