OpenAI is reportedly in discussions to lease a proposed 10-gigawatt data center campus on federal land in Ohio, a project that could receive financial backing from Nvidia and become one of the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure developments ever planned.
The campus could cost at least $500 billion to build, reflecting the enormous investment required for chips, power, labor, and other infrastructure needed to support advanced AI systems.
Under the proposed arrangement, OpenAI would control the equipment deployed at the facility through a 20-year lease agreement. Lease payments would begin once operations commence, with the first phase of the campus expected to become operational in 2028.
The facility is being developed by SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank, on land owned by the U.S. Department of Energy in southern Ohio. Designed to deliver massive computing capacity, the project would support the growing demands of next-generation artificial intelligence models.
Nvidia is expected to play a key role by supplying hardware for the facility while also providing financial guarantees related to OpenAI’s lease commitments and SB Energy’s financing arrangements.
If completed, the campus would rank among the largest AI data center projects globally, underscoring the escalating race among technology companies to secure the infrastructure required for AI development.
The reported discussions come after OpenAI paused its proposed “Stargate” data center project in the United Kingdom earlier this year, citing regulatory hurdles and high energy costs.
Meanwhile, significant investment continues across the AI infrastructure sector. Apollo and Blackstone are financing a $35 billion expansion of AI capacity for Anthropic using Broadcom chips, highlighting the industry’s growing focus on large-scale computing resources.
The proposed Ohio facility would represent one of the most ambitious AI infrastructure investments ever contemplated, demonstrating the scale of resources being directed toward the future of artificial intelligence.
