Nvidia in Talks to Inject $3 Billion Into SoftBank's SB Energy for OpenAI Data Center

Nvidia is in discussions to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy, a SoftBank Group subsidiary that is developing a massive data center campus in Ohio for OpenAI, according to a report from The Information on Saturday citing people familiar with the matter.

The proposed equity injection is part of a broader set of negotiations between Nvidia, OpenAI, and SB Energy centered on roughly $100 billion in credit support for the planned Ohio facility. Under the structure being discussed, Nvidia would commit half of the $3 billion when the Ohio project agreement is signed, with the remaining half tied to SB Energy's planned initial public offering.

SB Energy is targeting an IPO as soon as September and could raise at least $5 billion in the listing, the report said. A $1.5 billion anchor investment from Nvidia would position the chipmaker as one of the largest backers of the offering.

Nvidia and SB Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours. Reuters said it could not independently verify the report.

SB Energy, which counts OpenAI among its investors, develops large-scale power generation and data center infrastructure projects. Founded in 2019, the company is building multiple data center campuses across the United States to meet surging demand tied to artificial intelligence workloads.

The Ohio campus, located in the southern part of the state, is planned to include 10 gigawatts of power capacity. At current hardware, labor, power, and materials costs, the total construction price tag is estimated at approximately $500 billion, according to market sources.

SB Energy originally focused on renewable energy projects and had limited experience in data center construction before acquiring Studio 151 in late 2025, a firm specializing in construction management, engineering design, and operations for data centers. The company is also developing a 1.2-gigawatt data center campus near Austin in Milam County, Texas, for Oracle and OpenAI, alongside solar and energy storage projects across Texas, California, and other western states.

The web of entities behind the proposed Ohio financing arrangement, including SB Energy's parent, advisers, and planned IPO, can be summarized as follows:

Scaling Back the Guarantee

The SB Energy investment talks come just days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia has restructured its financial support for the Ohio project. Under the revised plan, Nvidia would initially guarantee less than $120 billion, down from the $250 billion figure previously discussed. The adjustment is aimed at addressing investor concerns about the company's growing exposure to AI infrastructure financing.

Under the current framework, Nvidia would back only the first phase of the project, which involves approximately 5 gigawatts of power capacity. The company would decide later whether and how to fund the remaining capacity. OpenAI is still negotiating a binding lease for the full 10-gigawatt site, with a signing expected in the coming days.

The initial guarantee would cover the data center lease and the debt required for construction, helping reduce borrowing costs by giving lenders greater confidence in the project's financial security.

Key Financing Figures	Previous Plan	Revised Plan
Nvidia guarantee for Ohio project	$250 billion	Less than $120 billion
Credit support under discussion	$100 billion	$100 billion
SB Energy IPO target	At least $5 billion	At least $5 billion
Nvidia potential SB Energy investment	Not disclosed	Up to $3 billion
Total project construction cost (est.)	$500 billion	$500 billion

Note: Figures reflect reported discussions and estimates from sources familiar with the negotiations.

Goldman Sachs is serving as transaction adviser to SB Energy, while Morgan Stanley is advising Nvidia, according to people familiar with the matter.

A Broader AI Financing Push

The SB Energy investment would deepen Nvidia's push into AI infrastructure finance, a strategy the company has pursued aggressively as it looks to stimulate demand for its chips. Nvidia recently agreed to invest $2 billion in Lancium, a Texas-based power infrastructure developer for another OpenAI and Oracle AI campus, with an additional $1 billion contingent on Lancium securing more planned power resources.

Earlier this year, Nvidia invested $2 billion each in cloud providers CoreWeave and Nebius, and committed $30 billion to OpenAI, which remains the largest single source of demand for Nvidia's AI accelerators.

This week, Nvidia announced a partnership with six major Wall Street institutions to mobilize $500 billion in third-party capital for AI compute projects. The initiative, which involves Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, and KKR, is designed to provide financing at preferential rates for chip purchases while addressing market concerns about circular financing.

According to CNBC, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya described the six-institution partnership as a pivot away from the vendor-financing structure that had drawn circularity criticism, while traders at Mizuho said the arrangement does not resolve the core question of how much genuine end-user demand underlies the spending.

Some investors have expressed unease about Nvidia's expanding role as both chip supplier and financier to its own customers. A credit executive familiar with the Ohio negotiations said deals where Nvidia directly invests in customers or commits to underwriting their idle computing capacity "are no longer universally welcomed by the market." Another credit executive involved in Nvidia's AI infrastructure deals said some private credit institutions remain cautious about lending directly to OpenAI.

Seaport Research analyst Jay Goldberg warned in late July that vendor-financing arrangements can backfire, citing Lucent Technologies as a cautionary example.

The shift in Nvidia's approach reflects a broader recalibration. In September last year, Nvidia and OpenAI signed a memorandum of understanding under which Nvidia would help develop at least 10 gigawatts of computing capacity for OpenAI and invest up to $100 billion to support the project. That agreement later stalled amid internal concerns at Nvidia.

For OpenAI, the Ohio project represents a major long-term commitment as the company seeks greater control over its AI infrastructure. The company remains unprofitable despite a reported valuation of $852 billion, adding pressure to secure favorable financing terms.

If completed as planned, the Ohio campus would become the largest data center project announced to date. The US Department of Energy has noted that SB Energy plans to build the world's largest AI data center at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. Ohio's consumer counsel has said a hyperscale data center of this scale can consume as much electricity as 100,000 homes.