Nvidia is writing a $1.5 billion check to SB Energy, the data center developer backed by SoftBank and OpenAI, in a deal that makes the chipmaker the exclusive compute supplier for OpenAI’s Ports-Pike facility near Cincinnati. The filing with the SEC also reveals Nvidia will extend up to $105 billion in credit to help build the site, which could scale from 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts. That’s a staggering number, even by the standards of the current AI infrastructure boom.
The facility sits on Department of Energy land that once enriched uranium for nuclear submarines and the U.S. arsenal. SB Energy plans to build a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas plant there at an estimated cost of $33 billion. BloombergNEF data shows natural gas plant construction costs have jumped 66% in just two years, which explains the eye-watering price tag. SoftBank’s involvement is notable on its own — the Japanese conglomerate previously held $5.8 billion in Nvidia stock before selling it in November to fund other AI bets.
Here’s where things get uncomfortable. By the time this plant comes online, domestic data centers will be fighting export markets for the same natural gas supply. That collision could triple gas prices in some regions, which would ripple through electricity costs for everyone, not just AI companies. The irony of AI’s clean-energy ambitions running headfirst into a 9.2 gigawatt fossil fuel buildout on a former nuclear site isn’t lost on anyone paying attention.
The deal also signals how Nvidia is evolving beyond selling chips. Supplying $105 billion in credit to a customer’s data center developer is vendor lock-in at an unprecedented scale. Nvidia isn’t just winning the AI hardware race — it’s financing the tracks the race runs on.
