The news
On August 17, 2026, Nvidia (NVDA) agreed to guarantees capped at $105 billion that support an OpenAI Ohio data center lease at SB Energy's PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County. SB Energy will build, own and operate the site under a 20-year lease to OpenAI.
In its announcement, Nvidia said it will provide credit support on the land, power and shell buildout for an initial 4.25 IT-GW, or gigawatts of power for computing equipment, with an option on the remaining 3.75 IT-GW of a planned 8 IT-GW campus. Nvidia will be the site's exclusive AI compute infrastructure provider and will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy. It said capacity is expected to come online in phases beginning in 2028.
Nvidia's Form 8-K filing spelled out how the guarantee works. Nvidia's aggregate payment obligation for its initial commitment is capped at $105 billion. It takes the form of residual value guaranties: if OpenAI's insolvency causes a lease default, or OpenAI fails to make lease payments, Nvidia pays roughly the shortfall between a guaranteed minimum lease value and what is recovered through a replacement lease or a sale.
According to the filing, the obligation applies only once SB Energy meets ready-for-service conditions, expected beginning in 2028, and ends no later than 20 years after each lease starts. Nvidia can choose to take over a lease, require the landlord to seek a new tenant, or start a sale process.
The campus sits on the site of the decommissioned Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, according to Nvidia. SB Energy and SoftBank plan at least 10 gigawatts of new power generation and a $4.2 billion investment in regional grid infrastructure with utility AEP Ohio. REBusinessOnline reported that the project is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs over a six-year buildout through 2032 and 2,500 long-term operating jobs.
The numbers
- Cap on Nvidia's initial guarantee obligation
- $105 billion (8-K)
- OpenAI lease term
- 20 years
- Initial capacity with Nvidia credit support
- 4.25 IT-GW
- Planned campus capacity
- 8 IT-GW
- Nvidia investment in SB Energy
- $1.5 billion
- First capacity expected
- Phases beginning in 2028
Why CEOs should care
For CFOs and investors, the structure matters more than the headline figure. Nvidia does not pay unless OpenAI defaults or stops paying, and then only the gap left after the space is re-leased or sold. But the arrangement ties three balance sheets together: a chip supplier stands behind a major customer's rent so a developer can finance the building. Anyone valuing OpenAI's long-term compute plans, or Nvidia's exposure to them, should ask how many other leases carry similar support.
For technology buyers who depend on OpenAI models, this capacity is years away. The first phases are expected from 2028, and SB Energy and SoftBank still have to build the new generation and grid links the site needs. Price cuts or capacity promises tied to new sites should be read against those dates. The campus will run Nvidia compute exclusively, subject to limited exceptions, so it adds no second hardware source for OpenAI's supply.
Boards should treat vendor financing as a concentration signal. When a supplier guarantees a customer's obligations, a setback at one company can spread to the other, and to customers who rely on both for AI services.
The bigger picture
The deal shows a chip supplier moving into a role that developers and lenders usually fill. Nvidia said it had secured land, power and shell capacity, meaning the site, its power supply and the building, through the SB Energy partnership to host its compute, and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, said in the announcement that AI "is becoming infrastructure." Guaranteeing the tenant's lease helps the site get built, and it also means demand for Nvidia's chips and the credit behind OpenAI's data centers now move together.
What happened next
On August 26, 2026, Nvidia's quarterly report said the August guarantees, capped at $105 billion, were made on behalf of an OpenAI affiliate for leases covering about 4.25 gigawatts at the campus. It said they cover defined portions of lease and power payments, not the full cost of the site or all of the tenant's obligations, and listed guarantees totaling $108.5 billion, including the $105 billion.
On September 1, SB Energy filed with the SEC for a proposed initial public offering on Nasdaq under the ticker SBE, and it amended the filing on September 4 and September 21. Latitude Media reported that the filing shows no SB Energy data center capacity in operation yet and warns there is no assurance projects will be finished on time or at all. What to watch: the IPO's pricing, construction milestones and whether the first phase is ready in 2028.
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