Nvidia in Talks With OpenAI to Guarantee $250 Billion Financing for Data Center

The Wall Street Journal ^ | July 26, 2026 7:19 pm ET | Anissa Gardizy , Amrith Ramkumar and Corrie Driebusch

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Project would be one of the largest AI computing hubs and involve power controlled by the U.S. government

Nvidia NVDA is in talks to provide a roughly $250 billion backstop for OpenAI as part of a massive data center project, one of the most ambitious financial transactions yet in America’s artificial-intelligence boom.

The guarantees from Nvidia would help the ChatGPT maker lease a 10-gigawatt project that SoftBank’s 9434 energy subsidiary is developing in southern Ohio, people familiar with the matter said. In total, the project could cost more than $500 billion, including the chips that would go inside the data centers. It would be the largest data center project announced to date.

The power for the project is controlled by the U.S. government and funded separately by Japan under a recent trade deal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in deciding who will get the power, some of the people said.

Nvidia’s backing would allow the data center developer, which is owned by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s investment firm SoftBank, to raise debt at more favorable terms than it could if OpenAI had no financial backer, since OpenAI has no investment-grade credit rating as an unprofitable private company. The AI company has been in advanced talks to lease the site for several weeks, people familiar with the matter said.

OpenAI is among the companies that has shown most interest in the site, while Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also spoken to Lutnick about it in recent weeks, one of the people said.

AI companies are desperate to secure chips and power needed to run their models, making megaprojects that have government support or guaranteed power increasingly attractive.

[eyedigress]

The velocity is slowing but some have money. MSFT is very attractive.

[Paladin2]

NVidea owes me a cheap [<$100] video card for my last lifetime PC build.

[I have tons of ~2000 video cards with NVIDIA chips]

I own a few shares of same.

They need to cross my palm with some hardware value....

[Paladin2]

NVidea is very parsimonious with Dividends.

[Paladin2]

“...the hottest looking chick was Lithuanian...”

I think you are on to something.

[bdfromlv]

they only need one to dust after completion and some Mexican gardeners.

[Doctor Congo]

This must be the planned world’s biggest data center in Ross County OH.

This one is unique in that it will have its own power plant. The trouble is that it will use 1/3 of Ohio’s total production of natural gas. Gas prices will go way up.