Nvidia’s $250 Billion Credit Wrapper Could Give OpenAI Its Own Data Center in Ohio

Nvidia is negotiating a $250 billion credit guarantee that would allow OpenAI to become the direct tenant of a massive data center campus in southern Ohio, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The deal, structured as a “credit wrapper,” would not involve Nvidia handing over cash but would provide a financial backstop that makes the project cheaper to finance. If completed, the facility would be the largest data center campus ever announced, with a total project cost — including the chips inside — exceeding $500 billion.

The project is being built by SB Energy, the renewable energy arm of SoftBank, on a 10-gigawatt site located about 50 miles south of Columbus. The site is a former uranium enrichment facility, which simplifies permitting and reduces local opposition, according to the Journal. The power for the complex is controlled by the U.S. government and partially funded by a $33 billion trade agreement with Japan that includes a natural gas plant in the same area. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is directly involved in deciding which companies gain access to that energy.

OpenAI, which currently leases compute capacity from Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle, has been seeking greater control over its own infrastructure. The company recently raised its compute spending forecast through 2030 to $750 billion, up from $600 billion earlier this year. A direct lease of this campus would mark a significant shift away from third-party cloud reliance.

Key facts

Why the credit wrapper matters

OpenAI, as a private company that is not yet profitable, lacks the credit rating needed to borrow the hundreds of billions required for a project of this scale. By putting its own balance sheet behind the lease, Nvidia reduces the risk for lenders, lowering the cost of debt for SB Energy. This financial mechanism, known as a credit wrapper, has precedent: Google has previously backed data center projects for Anthropic, partly to drive demand for its own AI chips.

The arrangement also benefits Nvidia. With a market capitalization near $5 trillion, the company is betting that guaranteeing OpenAI’s infrastructure will lock in years of demand for its GPUs. The chip financing component — reportedly worth up to $350 billion — is being negotiated separately and would cover the semiconductors installed in the facility.

Circular financing concerns

The deal has drawn scrutiny from investors who worry about “circular financing,” where tech companies fund infrastructure that then generates revenue for themselves. Gary Tan, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, told Bloomberg that while Nvidia’s investments reinforce confidence in long-term AI buildouts, “investors remain concerned about circular financing.” Nvidia itself warned in its latest annual report that such agreements could reduce its short-term liquidity and increase its exposure to client credit risk.

Energy as the bottleneck

The project underscores that energy availability has become the primary constraint on large-scale AI training. OpenAI has been in talks for weeks to secure the Ohio site, according to the Journal, but it is not the only candidate. Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google have also held discussions with Lutnick over the same energy allocation. The U.S. government’s role in allocating power rights adds a layer of political dimension to the race for AI compute.

What remains uncertain

The negotiations are still in an early stage, and the terms could change or collapse entirely before any agreement is signed. The first phase of the campus, with 800 MW of capacity, is not expected to be operational until 2028. If the deal goes through, it would mark the first time OpenAI becomes a direct tenant of a major data center rather than a wholesale cloud customer — a shift that could reshape its relationship with cloud providers and alter the balance of power in AI infrastructure.

Source: Xataka IA (citing The Wall Street Journal) – https://www.xataka.com/empresas-y-economia/nvidia-esta-dispuesta-a-avalar-250-000-millones-dolares-openai-tenga-su-propio-centro-datos-wsj