OpenAI Signs 10 GW Ohio Data Center Lease With SoftBank’s SB Energy
OpenAI signs a 20-year, 10-gigawatt data center lease in Ohio with SoftBank's SB Energy, backed by Nvidia as exclusive chip provider and equity stakeholder.
OpenAI has signed a 20-year lease for a 10-gigawatt data center campus in Ohio with SoftBank's SB Energy, closing what is described as the largest data center project ever announced. Nvidia is financially backing the deal: it agreed to guarantee a portion of the completed facility's value, starting with the first 5-gigawatt phase, so the developer can raise debt without putting Nvidia itself at major risk. In return, Nvidia becomes the exclusive chip supplier for the first half of the site and takes an equity stake in SB Energy.
What happened
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Lease term | 20 years |
| Total capacity | 10 gigawatts |
| Location | Ohio |
| Landlord / developer | SB Energy (SoftBank subsidiary) |
| Nvidia’s backstop phase | First phase, approximately 5 GW |
| Nvidia’s role | Exclusive chip provider for first half; equity stake in SB Energy |
OpenAI has closed its Ohio data center lease with SoftBank’s SB Energy after weeks of negotiations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the agreement is the largest data center project announced to date, measured by power capacity.
The 10-gigawatt figure refers to the total electricity draw the campus is designed to support. For context, a single large hyperscale facility today typically runs between 100 and 500 megawatts, so 10 GW represents a step-change in scale.
How Nvidia’s financial backstop works
Nvidia is not simply a hardware vendor here. According to WSJ reporting, Nvidia agreed to backstop a portion of the completed data center’s value, beginning with the first 5-gigawatt phase. This guarantee lets the project developer raise debt financing more easily, because lenders have a creditworthy name standing behind the asset.
Critically, the structure is designed so that Nvidia does not take on substantial direct risk. The backstop is tied to the value of the completed facility rather than an open-ended construction guarantee.
In exchange for that support, Nvidia secures two things: it becomes the exclusive chip provider for the first half of the Ohio campus, and it receives an equity stake in SB Energy. Nvidia also has the option to extend its commitment to cover the full 10-gigawatt campus later.
Why does this matter for the AI industry?
Compute capacity is the hard ceiling on AI development right now. A lease at this scale signals that OpenAI is planning for a level of training and inference workload that dwarfs its current infrastructure. It also shows how chip suppliers like Nvidia are moving up the stack, from selling hardware to co-investing in the facilities that house it.
For SoftBank, the deal gives SB Energy a long-term anchor tenant with one of the most recognisable names in AI. The Nvidia equity stake further ties the two companies together in a way that goes beyond a normal supplier relationship. We recently covered Nvidia trimming its Ohio data center guarantee to $120 billion as investors pushed back, so this finalised structure appears to be the outcome of those tensions.
Our take
A 20-year, 10-gigawatt lease is not a product launch you can test in a sandbox. This is infrastructure betting that AI compute demand will keep growing for two decades, a bet that looked obvious a year ago and looks a little more complicated now that model efficiency is improving fast.
The Nvidia angle is the more interesting part. Locking in exclusive chip supply for 5 GW in exchange for a financial guarantee is a smart hedge for Nvidia: it protects its revenue pipeline while the backstop structure limits downside. But it also means OpenAI is now deeply tied to Nvidia silicon for its largest facility, which reduces leverage in future chip negotiations.
For businesses building on OpenAI’s APIs, more raw compute generally means lower latency and more capacity headroom. But the timeline matters: projects at this scale take years to build. Do not expect this campus to affect API availability in the near term.
If your business depends on AI inference at scale, it is worth thinking now about how you architect your AI integration layer so it is not locked to a single provider either.
What to do about it
- Watch the build timeline. Phase one (5 GW) will take years to come online. Adjust any AI capacity planning assumptions accordingly.
- Audit your own vendor lock-in. If OpenAI is your only AI backend, consider whether a multi-provider setup makes sense before this infrastructure shapes the market further.
- Track Nvidia’s equity position. As a shareholder in SB Energy, Nvidia has a financial interest in the campus succeeding. That alignment could affect chip pricing and availability for non-Ohio workloads.
The scale is historic, but the business impact depends entirely on when the power actually turns on.
Frequently asked questions
How big is OpenAI's Ohio data center deal?
OpenAI signed a 20-year lease for a 10-gigawatt data center campus in Ohio with SoftBank's SB Energy. It is described as the largest data center project announced to date.
What is Nvidia's role in the OpenAI Ohio data center?
Nvidia agreed to backstop a portion of the first 5-gigawatt phase's value to help the developer raise debt financing. In return, Nvidia becomes the exclusive chip provider for the first half of the campus and receives an equity stake in SB Energy.
What does a data center backstop mean?
A backstop means Nvidia guarantees a portion of the completed facility's value, giving lenders confidence to provide debt financing. It limits Nvidia's risk because the guarantee is tied to the value of the finished asset, not an open-ended construction commitment.
Can Nvidia expand its commitment beyond the first phase?
Yes. According to WSJ reporting, Nvidia has the option to extend its financial commitment and chip supply role to cover the full 10-gigawatt campus, not just the initial 5-gigawatt phase.
