Nvidia (NVDA) and OpenAI have hit a major turning point in financing negotiations for a hyperscale data center campus in Ohio. According to The Wall Street Journal, Nvidia has sharply reduced the financial guarantee under discussion from $250 billion (approximately NT$8 trillion) to under $120 billion (approximately NT$3.8 trillion)\u2014a cut of more than 50%\u2014reflecting mounting investor concerns that the chip giant is taking on excessive financial risk.<\/p>\n
People familiar with the matter said Nvidia and OpenAI could sign a formal agreement as soon as this weekend. Under the structure currently being negotiated, Nvidia would provide financial guarantee support only for the first phase of the data center project\u2014totaling roughly 5 gigawatts (GW) of compute capacity\u2014covering the debt financing needed for data center leasing and construction. For the remaining 5 GW, Nvidia will decide later whether to provide support and in what form.<\/p>\n
The guarantee plays a credit-enhancement role in the deal structure. With Nvidia’s financial backing, lenders gain greater confidence in the project’s debt-servicing ability and capital security, helping to lower overall financing costs. However, when the $250 billion guarantee plan first surfaced on July 26, Nvidia’s stock dropped 5% that day, underscoring the market’s heightened wariness about the company using its own balance sheet to pull through AI chip demand.<\/p>\n
The report noted that Nvidia adjusted its support level precisely because investors began to worry about the company’s risk exposure to large-scale financing arrangements. The new plan adopts a phased approach to financing guarantees, allowing Nvidia to commit a smaller amount of capital upfront while retaining flexibility for subsequent phases.<\/p>\n
To clarify the multi-layered funding arrangements involved in this deal, the following table summarizes the various commitment amounts currently known for Nvidia and its partner institutions:<\/p>\n
Funding ItemAmountProvider \/ Negotiating PartyScopeStatusData center financing guarantee (original plan)$250 billionNvidiaFull 10 GW campusRevised downwardData center financing guarantee (revised plan)Under $120 billionNvidiaFirst phase ~5 GWSigning as soon as this weekendChip procurement financing$350 billionNvidia (in talks)OpenAI chip purchasesIn talksSB Energy equity investmentUp to $3 billionNvidia (in talks)SB Energy equity, split between signing and IPOIn talksCompute financing platformOver $500 billionApollo, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, KKRNvidia ecosystem AI infrastructure customersMOU signed Aug. 10Last year’s MOU funding capUp to $100 billionNvidiaHelp OpenAI pay for 10 GW facility costsInternal objections; stalled
\n10-Gigawatt Mega Campus Led by SoftBank’s SB Energy<\/p>\n
The data center campus is located in Piketon, Pike County, Ohio, on the site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant\u2014a Cold War-era facility that opened in 1954 for uranium enrichment, ceased enrichment operations in 2001, and was transferred to the U.S. Department of Energy in 2011 for decommissioning, spanning more than 3,700 acres of federal land. The campus is being developed by SB Energy, a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank Group (9984.T), with a total capacity of 10 gigawatts. If completed, it would be the largest data center project ever announced globally. OpenAI is still negotiating a binding lease for the full 10 GW capacity, with talks expected to advance in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Notably, the project’s power supply is controlled by the U.S. government, while funding is being borne solely by Japan under a recent trade agreement. People familiar with the matter said Goldman Sachs (GS) is serving as SB Energy’s transaction advisor, while Morgan Stanley (MS) is advising Nvidia.<\/p>\n
In addition, Nvidia is negotiating a separate agreement to provide financing for OpenAI’s chip purchases. Total chip procurement for the entire project is expected to reach $350 billion (approximately NT$11.2 trillion). Last September, Nvidia and OpenAI signed a memorandum of understanding under which Nvidia would help OpenAI build at least 10 GW of compute capacity, with the chip giant agreeing to contribute up to $100 billion (approximately NT$3.2 trillion) to help OpenAI cover related costs. But according to reports, the deal stalled after some within Nvidia raised objections to the arrangement.<\/p>\n
Nvidia Also in Talks to Acquire Up to $3 Billion Stake in SB Energy<\/p>\n
Beyond the data center financing guarantee, Nvidia is also evaluating a direct equity stake in SB Energy. Reuters reported that Nvidia is in talks to invest up to $3 billion in SB Energy, with roughly half expected to be deployed when the Ohio campus deal is formally signed and the other half tied to SB Energy’s planned initial public offering. SB Energy could launch its IPO as early as next month, targeting up to $5 billion in proceeds. This report has not yet been independently verified, and neither Nvidia nor SB Energy responded to requests for comment outside business hours as of press time.<\/p>\n
Compute Financing Platform Just Launched; Nvidia’s Capital Strategy Turns More Cautious<\/p>\n
The adjustment comes after Nvidia announced on Aug. 10 a partnership with six major financial institutions. Nvidia unveiled a compute financing platform with partners including Apollo Global Management (APO), Blackstone (BX), BlackRock (BLK), Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), Goldman Sachs, and KKR (KKR). These institutions plan to deploy more than $500 billion (approximately NT$16 trillion) in external capital over the coming years, aiming to provide financing support for AI infrastructure chip procurement at favorable rates. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an official statement: “Nvidia’s compute capacity is uniquely suited for this role\u2014it is broadly applicable, flexibly deployable across models and workloads, and offers interchangeability and transferability.”<\/p>\n
The overall funding structure can be simplified as follows:<\/p>\n
Market observers noted that Nvidia is simultaneously expanding the capital pool for AI infrastructure through external partnerships while shrinking its own direct guarantee exposure to a single project\u2014a sign that the company is pursuing a more balanced risk-management strategy even as it aggressively drives AI ecosystem expansion.<\/p>\n
OpenAI, despite a valuation as high as $852 billion (approximately NT$27.3 trillion), remains unprofitable. Its financial capacity to take on 10-gigawatt-scale infrastructure commitments continues to face market scrutiny. Industry sources said Nvidia’s decision to reduce its guarantee could push OpenAI to seek more diversified financing channels or adjust the timeline and scale of its data center buildout.<\/p>\n
As of press time, neither Nvidia nor OpenAI has issued a formal response to the reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nvidia (NVDA) and OpenAI have hit a major turning point in financing negotiations for a hyperscale data center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[18581,24851,2742,6363,1296,39400,304,58,157,61164,11782],"class_list":["post-141851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-apollo-global-management","tag-blackrock","tag-blackstone","tag-brookfield-asset-management","tag-goldman-sachs","tag-kkr","tag-morgan-stanley","tag-nvidia","tag-openai","tag-sb-energy","tag-softbank-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}