{"id":143985,"date":"2026-08-18T19:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/143985\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T19:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:15:16","slug":"openai-announces-plans-to-lease-much-of-a-proposed-data-center-campus-in-pike-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/143985\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI announces plans to lease much of a proposed data center campus in Pike County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOpenAI announces plans to lease much of a proposed data center campus in Pike County<\/p>\n

\n

By: David Forster<\/a><\/p>\n

Posted on:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTuesday, August 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t< < Back to feed
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) \u2014 OpenAI plans to lease most of a proposed data center campus in Pike County that could be one of the largest in the nation.<\/p>\n

The U.S.-based artificial intelligence company also announced it will invest $40 in a community grant fund to support local projects.<\/p>\n

SB Energy, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, announced in March<\/a> plans to build a 10-gigawatt data center campus on the site of a former uranium enrichment plant just south of Piketon. The land is owned by the federal government.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s unclear at this point whether the data centers OpenAI plans to lease, at least initially, will be built on that site, which has been undergoing an extensive cleanup after decades of radioactive and other contamination.<\/p>\n

As of now, permit filings by SB Energy suggest it plans<\/a> to build a large network of data centers on several parcels of private property in the area around the plant site.<\/p>\n

\"\"A groundbreaking ceremony near Piketon in March announced what could become the nation\u2019s largest data center. [Amanda Pirani | WOUB\/Report for America]Applications submitted by SB Energy to the Ohio EPA for a permit to fill certain streams and wetlands during construction identify a little over 1,000 acres of private land where multiple data centers would be built along with associated infrastructure, including power plants.<\/p>\n

SB Energy has already secured options from the landowners to purchase the property. The company notes in its latest application that it plans to begin construction in October.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said in its announcement Monday it has agreed to lease about 8 gigawatts of the proposed campus as it is built out.<\/p>\n

SB Energy will build, own and operate the data centers under a 20-year lease to OpenAI, according to the announcement. The centers will host NVIDIA AI hardware and software infrastructure. NVIDIA, meanwhile, will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy and provide credit support for the land, power and buildout.<\/p>\n

OpenAI says the project is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs during a six-year buildout through 2032 and 2,500 long-term operating jobs.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said it and SB Energy \u201cwill work to prioritize local workers, contractors, suppliers, trades, and service providers.\u201d OpenAI says it plans to work with unions, schools, workforce groups and other organizations to help residents prepare for construction, technical and operating roles.<\/p>\n

The project is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local tax revenue over its lifetime, according to OpenAI, which will primarily support schools but also roads, emergency services, healthcare and workforce development.<\/p>\n

Data center developments are running into increasing opposition in Ohio and throughout the country. The centers use considerable electricity to both power and cool the racks of servers. Opponents often raise concerns about increased burdens on the electrical grid that could lead to expensive upgrades and higher costs for ratepayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another common concern is the significant amount of water data centers can use for cooling depending on the type of system used.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said in its announcement that SB Energy will pay the full cost of grid upgrades and new transmission lines to serve the Pike County data centers. It says these costs will not be shifted to ratepayers.<\/p>\n

The first 800 megawatts of the project are expected to be ready in 2028 and will be powered primarily by the existing energy grid, OpenAI said. Beyond that, new power plants and transmission lines connecting them to the grid will be built to support additional capacity.<\/p>\n

SB Energy has announced plans to invest $33 billion to build more than 9 gigawatts of natural gas generation and spend more than $4 billion on transmission lines to move this power on the grid.<\/p>\n

The data centers will use a closed-loop, air-cooled system that recirculates water for cooling instead of towers that continuously consume water, according to OpenAI. Once the system is filled, \u201congoing water use is expected to be comparable to an office building supporting a similar number of people, including sinks and restrooms, equipment washdown and maintenance, and landscaping,\u201d the company said in its announcement.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said it will fund new water infrastructure \u201cin partnership with and to the benefit of local communities.\u201d It says once the site design is finalized it will publicly report the project\u2019s expected water use.<\/p>\n

The $40 million community investment OpenAI is pledging comes on top of a similar $40 million investment SB Energy has also made. OpenAI said how its $40 million investment is spent \u201cwill be shaped by local residents\u2019 priorities such as schools, public safety, health care, utilities, workforce training, housing, veterans\u2019 services, small businesses, and support for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0OpenAI says it will publish an annual report detailing the progress it has made on its many commitments, including local hiring, water and energy use and community investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to meet with residents, local officials, schools, businesses, labor organizations, and community groups to help shape an Ohio Community Compact,\u201d the company said. \u201cThe Compact will reflect local priorities and turn these principles into specific, public measures as the project moves forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OpenAI announces plans to lease much of a proposed data center campus in Pike County By: David Forster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[39,58,157,70307,70903,61164],"class_list":["post-143985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-data-centers","tag-nvidia","tag-openai","tag-pike-county","tag-portsmouth-gaseous-diffusion-plant","tag-sb-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143985","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=143985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}