NVIDIA has restructured its financing backing for OpenAI's Ohio data center campus, with the originally discussed $250 billion guarantee narrowed to below $120 billion for the first phase and finalized at $105 billion for a 20-year lease. The revised deal covers roughly 5GW of an eventual 8GW-to-10GW site; funding for the remaining 5GW is still undecided.
How large is the financing cut, and when will the new deal be signed?
NVIDIA's financing guarantee for OpenAI's Ohio data center dropped from a discussed $250 billion to below $120 billion for the first phaseCITE:E9. The Wall Street Journal reported that NVIDIA and OpenAI were nearing an agreement covering only the project's first phase, with signing possible as soon as the weekendCITE:E10. The finalized terms landed at a $105 billion (roughly NT$3.4 trillion) financing guarantee tied to OpenAI's 20-year lease of the new facilityCITE:E1.
How is the new phased financing plan structured?
The restructured agreement splits financing by phase, with NVIDIA favoring support for roughly 5GW of compute build-out in phase one, covering the debt financing needed for the data center's lease and constructionCITE:E11. Funding for the remaining 5GW has not yet been determined and will be decided laterCITE:E12.
Do the site, scale, and technology choice stay unchanged, and what is the project status?
The data center will still be built on the site of a former Cold War-era enriched-uranium plant in Ohio and will run exclusively on NVIDIA chipsCITE:E2CITE:E3. Its capacity could eventually reach 8GW, which would make it the largest single AI data center built to dateCITE:E2, while OpenAI is still negotiating binding leases for the full 10GW campus, developed by SoftBank's SB Energy unit, which would become the largest announced data center project if completedCITE:E13.
How large are SoftBank's and other parties' investment commitments?
SoftBank and its SB Energy subsidiary will invest more than $4 billion in local energy infrastructure and build at least 10GW of new power generation capacity to supply the data centerCITE:E4. OpenAI will contribute $40 million to support local prioritiesCITE:E5, while NVIDIA is investing $1.5 billion directly into SB EnergyCITE:E6.
Why did NVIDIA restructure the financing, and what does its new platform signal?
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said the arrangement is not circular financing, describing it as NVIDIA using its scale and long-term visibility to secure infrastructure so OpenAI can deploy AI factories that can be repeatedly upgraded across generations for greater intelligence and better economicsCITE:E7. NVIDIA also stated on its official blog that OpenAI will pay rent under the deal and that the structure follows the same discipline NVIDIA applies to supply chain managementCITE:E8. The restructuring follows NVIDIA's Monday announcement, alongside six major financial institutions, of a compute financing platform aimed at raising more than $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructureCITE:E14.
Does the cutback reflect financing difficulty at OpenAI, and what questions has the market raised?
OpenAI carries an $852 billion valuation while still operating at a lossCITE:E15. Reuters reported that OpenAI's "ability to make large-scale commitments for AI infrastructure remains in question"CITE:E16.
Numbers at a glance
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|
| Financing guarantee originally discussed | $250 billion | CITE:E9 |
| Revised first-phase guarantee (reported) | Below $120 billion | CITE:E9 |
| Finalized guarantee for 20-year lease | $105 billion (NT$3.4 trillion) | CITE:E1 |
| Data center maximum capacity | 8GW | CITE:E2 |
| First-phase compute financed by NVIDIA | ~5GW | CITE:E11 |
| Remaining capacity, funding undecided | 5GW | CITE:E12 |
| Overall campus scale under negotiation | 10GW | CITE:E13 |
| SoftBank/SB Energy local energy investment | Over $4 billion | CITE:E4 |
| New power generation capacity to be built | At least 10GW | CITE:E4 |
| OpenAI local community contribution | $40 million | CITE:E5 |
| NVIDIA investment in SB Energy | $1.5 billion | CITE:E6 |
| NVIDIA-led financing platform target | Over $500 billion | CITE:E14 |
| OpenAI valuation | $852 billion | CITE:E15 |
What this means: the gap between the $250 billion figure once discussed and the $105 billion guarantee actually finalized for the first phaseCITE:E9CITE:E1 lines up with a project where only 5GW of an eventual 8GW-to-10GW campus currently has committed financing, leaving the other 5GW's funding source openCITE:E11CITE:E12CITE:E13. That narrowing coincides with NVIDIA's own move to spread AI infrastructure financing across a $500 billion third-party platformCITE:E14 and a direct $1.5 billion stake in SB EnergyCITE:E6, set against an $852 billion OpenAI valuation that still sits alongside losses and the funding-capacity questions Reuters raisedCITE:E15CITE:E16.
Author's Take・EffectStory 編輯部
The number that matters here isn't the $105 billion headline guarantee — it's the 5GW gap. NVIDIA has only committed financing for roughly half of the Ohio campus's eventual 8GW-to-10GW scale, with the remaining 5GW's funding source still undecided. Read against NVIDIA's own $1.5 billion stake in SB Energy and its Monday launch of a $500 billion third-party financing platform, this looks less like NVIDIA stepping back from OpenAI and more like NVIDIA shifting exposure off its own balance sheet and onto a broader pool of capital. The metric worth watching next: whether that unfunded 5GW gets covered by NVIDIA directly, by the new financing platform, or by OpenAI itself — a question that matters given OpenAI's $852 billion valuation still sits alongside ongoing losses and the funding-capacity doubts Reuters flagged.