Nvidia is in talks to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy, the SoftBank Group-backed data center developer behind a massive planned Ohio campus for OpenAI, according to a report by The Information cited by multiple outlets1,2.
The proposed investment is part of broader discussions between Nvidia, OpenAI, and SB Energy on providing around $100 billion in credit support for the planned Ohio data center project. Nvidia has discussed deploying the $3 billion in two tranches: half when the Ohio project deal is signed, and the other half as part of SB Energy's planned initial public offering.
SB Energy is aiming to go public as soon as next month and could raise at least $5 billion in the IPO, according to The Information's report. The company, founded in 2019, develops large-scale power and data center infrastructure projects and is building several data center campuses to support rising demand tied to AI workloads. SB Energy is also backed by OpenAI.
The talks come amid shifting terms on the broader Ohio project. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia has revised its plans to support the proposed OpenAI data center project in Ohio, with Nvidia now expected to initially guarantee less than $120 billion, down from the $250 billion previously discussed.
Neither Nvidia nor SB Energy immediately responded to requests for comment outside regular business hours.
ANALYSIS A direct equity stake in SB Energy would give Nvidia a financial position in the physical infrastructure layer underpinning AI compute demand — tying the chipmaker's fortunes not only to GPU sales but to the data center buildout itself. Structuring half the investment around SB Energy's IPO also links Nvidia's capital deployment to a public-market event that would set a valuation benchmark for AI-focused data center developers. The reported reduction in Nvidia's initial guarantee — from $250 billion to less than $120 billion — suggests the financial architecture of the Ohio campus remains in flux even as the equity investment discussions proceed in parallel.