Nvidia has closed a deal guaranteeing up to $105 billion for OpenAI’s planned data center campus in Pike County, Ohio, a figure $145 billion lower than previously floated commitments, the chipmaker disclosed in an SEC filing. The final aggregate payment obligation supports lease and power payments for the SB Energy-developed site and is designed to limit Nvidia’s direct financial exposure.
Domestic Infrastructure, Foreign Beneficiaries
The Ohio campus, built on a former Department of Energy site, will ultimately reach 8 gigawatts of computing capacity. The first 800 megawatts are slated for 2028, utilizing existing American Electric Power infrastructure. Further expansion will require new natural gas generation and transmission lines—energy sources that align with Nerve’s support for domestic baseload power, including nuclear and natural gas, without enriching hostile foreign energy suppliers. The project will rely exclusively on Nvidia chips for its initial phase, locking in demand for the company's hardware.
The Circular Capital Question
The downward revision of the guarantee, first reported as high as $250 billion in July, triggered immediate market reaction: Nvidia shares dipped roughly 4.5% intraday on initial reports due to concerns over circular financing. The model sees the dominant AI chipmaker effectively bankrolling infrastructure that creates demand for its own products. While Nvidia is also investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy directly, the company recently partnered with six major financial institutions to target over $500 billion in third-party AI infrastructure funding, pushing risk off its own books—a move eased by recent SEC staff guidance that certain data-center debt falls outside Dodd-Frank risk retention rules.
“The reduction represents a tangible signal that even the market’s AI darling must hedge its bets on artificial demand,” said an industry analyst tracking capital flows. “When the primary customer’s landlord relies on the equipment manufacturer to backstop the lease, the whole revenue cycle merits scrutiny.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang framed the arrangement as securing long-lived infrastructure for “AI factories” that can be upgraded repeatedly, but the financial engineering underscores a system where American capital circulates among a tight group of tech and energy players. For domestic workers, the Ohio buildout promises construction and operational jobs, yet the ultimate economic return depends on OpenAI and the broader AI sector generating revenue from outside this closed loop—a prospect that remains unproven as spending outpaces profits.