Nvidia cut its planned OpenAI Ohio guarantee below $120 billion from a previously discussed $250 billion.
Key Points:
- Nvidia is expected to guarantee less than $120 billion initially, down from a previously discussed $250 billion.
- The chipmaker would back only the first phase, while OpenAI is still negotiating a lease for the full 10-gigawatt project.
- The revision follows investor concerns about Nvidia’s exposure to large AI financing commitments.
Nvidia Ohio Backstop
Nvidia’s revised plan would limit its financial guarantee to the first phase of the Ohio data center project, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the talks. A deal could be signed as early as this weekend; OpenAI declined to comment, and Nvidia had not responded outside regular business hours.
The change followed investor concerns about Nvidia’s exposure to large financing commitments tied to AI infrastructure, according to the Journal, as the chipmaker reassessed how much risk to carry directly. OpenAI is still discussing a binding lease for the entire 10-gigawatt site, which SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank, is developing and could become the largest announced data center project if completed.
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OpenAI Financing Risk
The smaller guarantee matters because Nvidia is trying to support rapid AI infrastructure expansion without backing every project itself, a strategy reinforced by its Aug. 10 financing partnership with six major financial institutions. Those platforms aim to raise more than $500 billion in third-party capital.
That structure shifts more financing responsibility to outside investors. OpenAI faces its own funding pressure because it remains unprofitable despite a reported $852 billion valuation, while the Ohio lease would represent a major long-term commitment as it seeks more control over AI infrastructure.
Seaport Research analyst Jay Goldberg warned in late July that vendor-financing arrangements can backfire, citing Lucent Technologies as a cautionary example before Nvidia reduced the Ohio guarantee. Nvidia is still expected to back only the initial phase.
The original $250 billion guarantee surfaced in July as Nvidia considered deeper financial support for the 10-gigawatt campus, before investor concerns pushed the proposed backstop toward a narrower first-phase commitment under the revised structure.
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