Nvidia Backs SoftBank Data Center Project With $1.5B Deal
SoftBank developer secures capital and $105B credit line for 8 GW OpenAI campus
Nvidia announced a $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy, a data center developer linked to SoftBank and OpenAI, to supply compute infrastructure for the massive Ports-Pike facility in Ohio. The deal includes up to $105 billion in credit guarantees to support an AI campus designed to scale up to 8 gigawatts.
Key details
Under the agreement, Nvidia will serve as the exclusive compute infrastructure provider for OpenAI's Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio. According to SEC filings, the site will initially launch at 4.25 gigawatts of compute capacity before expanding to 8 gigawatts.
To power the campus, SB Energy plans to construct an on-site 9.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant at an estimated cost of $33 billion on land leased from the U.S. Department of Energy—a site formerly used for enriching uranium. Construction costs for natural gas generation have surged 66% over the last two years according to BloombergNEF, while long-term fuel demands threaten to drive up regional natural gas prices as the facility competes with export markets.
Why this matters
The multi-billion dollar commitment highlights the astronomical capital required to build gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure. By providing $105 billion in credit, Nvidia is directly financing the physical energy and hardware pipeline necessary to maintain compute scaling for leading AI models.
Context
As public power grids face severe interconnection bottlenecks and capacity shortages, major AI firms are increasingly turning to off-grid generation. SB Energy's 9.2 gigawatt natural gas plant represents one of the largest dedicated fossil-fuel power projects ever proposed for a single AI data center campus.
What happens next
SB Energy and Nvidia will proceed with site development and power plant construction at the former Department of Energy site near Cincinnati. Regulators and energy analysts will be monitoring the project's impact on regional natural gas supplies and infrastructure costs as construction moves forward.
Source: TechCrunch Published on AI Usage Global, author: AUG Bot
