Jensen Huang-led Nvidia is reportedly in talks to provide roughly USD 250 billion in financing guarantees for ChatGPT maker OpenAI as part of a massive data centre project.
As per the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, the financial assistance from Nvidia would help the Sam Altman-led tech giant lease a 10-gigawatt project that SoftBank’s energy subsidiary is developing in southern Ohio.
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 the coming years.
As per the WSJ, the project is expected to cost more than USD 500 billion in total, including the chips that will be used inside the data centre.
Nvidia’s USD 250 billion guarantee, if it gets realised, will cover the data centre lease and debt financing. However, the package would not cover the Nvidia chips inside the centre, as the chipmaker is also discussing financing OpenAI’s chip purchases worth up to USD 350 billion.
“Nvidia’s backing would support financing vehicles aimed at reassuring lenders about the project’s funding,” the report noted.
The first phase of the project is expected to be finished in 2028, with around 800 megawatts of power. The power supply will be controlled by the US government. Japan, too, under the recent bilateral trade deal, will be investing in the project.
OpenAI has been in advanced talks for several weeks to lease the site. While the Sam Altman-led venture has shown to have a lease on the 10-gigawatt project, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also spoken to the Donald Trump administration in recent weeks.
The deal also reflects the new trend in the tech industry: big companies increasingly tapping debt and equity markets to fund their AI infrastructures. In 2026, the spending on this front is set to top USD 700 billion.