Nvidia is in talks to provide roughly $250 billion in financing guarantees for OpenAI as part of a massive data center project, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The backstop from Nvidia would help the ChatGPT maker lease a 10-gigawatt project that SoftBank’s energy subsidiary is developing in southern Ohio, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
For OpenAI, a deal would be the first step toward controlling its own infrastructure instead of renting it from Microsoft Amazon and Oracle while for Nvidia, it would guarantee demand for its chips for years to come.
The project is expected to cost more than $500 billion in total, including the chips inside the data center, according to the WSJ.
The $250 billion guarantee covers the data center lease and debt financing, but would not cover the Nvidia chips inside the center, the WSJ said, adding that the chipmaker was also discussing financing OpenAI’s chip purchases worth up to $350 billion.
Nvidia’s backing would support financing vehicles aimed at reassuring lenders about the project’s funding, the report added.
The first phase of the project is expected to be finished in 2028, with around 800 megawatts of power, the Journal said.