OpenAI in Talks to Lease 10GW Ohio AI Campus

OpenAI is in advanced negotiations to lease a planned AI data center campus of up to 10GW in Pike County, Ohio. The Information first reported the talks on June 9, with Reuters and other outlets subsequently confirming the news.

The proposed lease would span 20 years. SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank, is developing the southern Ohio site, and OpenAI would begin rent payments only after the facility becomes operational. If fully built out, construction costs for the campus are estimated at a minimum of $500 billion. The project represents an extension of the Stargate initiative that OpenAI has pursued alongside SoftBank and Oracle.

Nvidia's potential involvement adds a critical dimension to the deal. Beyond supplying chips, Nvidia is reportedly discussing backing OpenAI's lease obligations with a credit guarantee from its own balance sheet. If finalized, the agreement would mark the largest infrastructure commitment in OpenAI's history.

World's Largest AI Campus Planned for Former Uranium Enrichment Site

The negotiations concern a highly unusual site: a 3,700-acre federal property in Piketon, Ohio, which previously housed the Cold War-era Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant used for uranium enrichment. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is currently cleaning up the site while leasing the land for the data center development.

The project was publicly unveiled in March as the PORTS Technology Campus, a public-private partnership involving the DOE, the U.S. Department of Commerce, SB Energy, and AEP Ohio. The development plans incorporate 9.2 gigawatts of new natural gas power generation alongside a $4.2 billion power transmission expansion.

The initial phase will support 800 megawatts of capacity and is estimated to cost approximately $10 billion, with construction scheduled to begin this summer and operations expected to start around 2028. Upon completion, the location is projected to be the world's largest AI data center campus, and OpenAI is negotiating to occupy the entire site.

Nvidia Shifts From Chip Supplier to Financial Guarantor

Nvidia is poised to back the developer's credit requirements. According to reports, Nvidia is discussing providing a credit guarantee that would cover both OpenAI's lease payments and SB Energy's project financing. This would mark the first time Nvidia has acted as a financial guarantor for an infrastructure project of this scale.

The financial rationale is clear. Because OpenAI remains unprofitable, its standalone credit is insufficient to support a 20-year lease commitment. A guarantee from Nvidia reduces borrowing costs for SB Energy and its lenders. Furthermore, because Nvidia will supply the chips for the Ohio campus, the expansion of the facility directly increases Nvidia's potential revenue.

The deal builds on a partnership announced in September, under which Nvidia committed to up to $100 billion in staged investments and the delivery of 10GW of systems to OpenAI. However, the prospect of a credit guarantee from a hardware vendor covering the debt of its primary customer is likely to renew scrutiny over circular transactions within the AI industry.

Strategic Shift to Leased Infrastructure Reframes Stargate

The complex structure reflects a fundamental shift in OpenAI's infrastructure strategy. Over the past year, the company has rewritten its Stargate playbook, pivoting away from owning and operating its own data centers and instead leasing capacity built by partners. Capping its Stargate site in Abilene, Texas at 1.2 gigawatts and leasing resources from Oracle, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and CoreWeave are key components of this strategy.

Transitioning to a leasing model converts massive upfront capital expenditures into ongoing operating expenses. With the financing around OpenAI stretching as far as SoftBank's record $40 billion loan, a lease that defers rent payments until the 10GW Ohio campus is operational offers significant relief to its cash flow.

While negotiations remain ongoing and final terms may change, the strategic path is set. Rather than acting as a developer or landlord, OpenAI's multi-hundred-billion-dollar Stargate initiative is positioning the company to become the world's largest data center tenant.