Nvidia scales back financial guarantee to under $120B for OpenAI data center project

Nvidia has chopped its proposed financial guarantee for OpenAI’s colossal Ohio data center from roughly $250 billion down to below $120 billion. The revised backstop is designed to cover lease payments and construction-related debt on a 10-gigawatt AI computing facility being developed by SoftBank’s SB Energy subsidiary in the Pike County area of Ohio. It does not cover the cost of Nvidia’s actual chips, which could require a separate financing arrangement potentially worth up to $350 billion. What Nvidia is actually guaranteeing Nvidia isn’t putting $120 billion of its own cash on the table. It’s offering to serve as a financial backstop, essentially co-signing on construction and lease obligations so that lenders and partners feel comfortable moving forward on a project of unprecedented scale. A prior agreement between Nvidia and OpenAI struck in 2025 had already outlined up to $100 billion in progressive investments tied to significantly scaled deployments. The current negotiations build on that foundation but involve a far more complex web of financial commitments spread across construction, energy infrastructure, and hardware procurement. The scope of the Ohio facility The pla...