Nvidia halves funding guarantee for OpenAI Ohio data center to $120 billion

Nvidia is revising its financial support for a massive proposed OpenAI data center in Ohio. The chipmaker will now guarantee less than $120 billion for the project, a significant reduction from the $250 billion previously discussed by the parties.

The two companies are nearing an agreement where the chipmaker provides a financial backstop exclusively for the first phase of construction. A formal deal could be signed as early as this weekend, according to individuals familiar with the negotiations.

This strategic retreat follows direct pressure from investors worried about the chipmaker's risk exposure. Market participants had grown increasingly uneasy regarding the scale of direct financing commitments required to support the rapid buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The adjustment aligns with a broader push to distribute the immense capital costs of the artificial intelligence boom. On Monday, the chipmaker announced a partnership with six major financial institutions to launch compute financing platforms.

That specific initiative aims to raise more than $500 billion in third-party capital. By leveraging outside money, the company can facilitate massive infrastructure growth without absorbing the associated credit risks onto its own balance sheet.

The physical site in Ohio is being developed by SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank. The facility is designed to eventually reach a massive 10-gigawatt capacity, which would make it the largest data center project announced to date upon completion.

OpenAI is still discussing a binding lease for the full scope of the 10-gigawatt project. Securing this physical infrastructure represents a critical strategic pivot for the startup as it moves toward owning and operating its own computing assets.

Yet the sheer scale of these capital requirements highlights the financial vulnerability of leading artificial intelligence developers. Despite commanding a staggering private valuation of $852 billion, the company remains unprofitable and its ability to fund large-scale commitments remains under intense scrutiny.

Institutional investors are now demanding stricter capital discipline across the sector. The revised Ohio agreement signals that even the most dominant hardware suppliers are adjusting their strategies to protect shareholder value amid escalating infrastructure costs.