The artificial intelligence (AI) buildout has entered a new phase. Companies are no longer just buying chips in bulk. They now hunt land, power, and financing on a scale the tech industry rarely attempts.
Nvidia (NVDA) sits at the center of that shift, and its next move could reshape how AI infrastructure gets funded for years to come. A recent report shows how far the chipmaker may go. The details point to one of the largest financial arrangements tied to AI infrastructure to date, and it involves one of Nvidia’s closest and most important partners.
Nvidia’s $250 billion guarantee takes shape
Nvidia is reported to provide roughly $250 billion worth of financial support for OpenAI, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on July 26, 2026, confirmed by Reuters. The guarantee would support a massive data center lease project rather than a direct cash payment upfront, and represents one of the most ambitious financial transactions yet in America’s AI boom.
The arrangement centers on a 10-gigawatt data center project in southern Ohio. SoftBank’s (SFTBY) energy subsidiary is developing the site, and Nvidia’s backing would help OpenAI secure debt financing on far better terms, the report said.
More Nvidia:
- Bank of America sees Nvidia’s next $20 billion business
- Morgan Stanley says Nvidia stock remains top pick despite headwind
- Citi sends strong signal to Nvidia investors amid rumors
The backing matters because OpenAI still lacks an investment-grade credit rating. The company remains unprofitable despite its scale and its 900 million weekly active ChatGPT users.
A guarantee from Nvidia, whose balance sheet carries far more weight with lenders, would allow the project to proceed on terms OpenAI could not secure alone. Without that support, lenders would likely demand a steeper rate or additional collateral before committing capital of this size.
Including the Nvidia chips destined for the facility, the full project is estimated to cost more than $500 billion. That would make it the largest data center project announced anywhere to date, eclipsing even Nvidia’s own $100 billion OpenAI investment pledged in September 2025, which is being deployed progressively as infrastructure comes online.
The Ohio megaproject and its power struggle
Southern Ohio was chosen partly because of an existing decommissioned uranium enrichment site nearby. Electricity for the campus would come from a natural gas facility backed by a $33 billion Japanese investment, which is tied to a recent trade agreement between the U.S. and Tokyo, according to Reuters.
The first phase of the project, which is roughly 800 megawatts of capacity, is expected online by 2028. Reaching the full 10 gigawatts will take years and multiple stages of construction, reflecting how much longer power buildouts now take compared with chip deployment schedules. That gap between hardware readiness and available electricity has become one of the industry’s most persistent bottlenecks.
The power allocation is effectively controlled by the U.S. government’s arrangement. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in deciding which companies gain access to the site’s capacity, underscoring how political AI infrastructure has become in 2026.
OpenAI is described as the frontrunner for the site after weeks of advanced talks. Microsoft (MSFT), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Anthropic have also spoken with officials about the project, showing how contested Ohio’s power capacity has become among rival AI labs.
Nvidia itself has recently pulled back from smaller equity bets in AI startups, choosing instead to concentrate its firepower on arrangements of this size.
David/Getty Images
Chip financing deal could add $350 billion more
The report says the $250 billion guarantee covers only the project’s lease and construction debt financing tied to the Ohio campus. It does not include the Nvidia processors that will eventually fill the facility.
That brings a separate financing conversation into play, one that has drawn its own scrutiny after earlier reports of OpenAI exploring custom chips to diversify away from Nvidia hardware entirely.
Nvidia is also discussing a chip purchase financing arrangement for OpenAI that could reach as much as $350 billion, based on the same Journal reporting. Combined with the data center backstop, Nvidia’s total financial exposure to one customer could approach $600 billion.
Related: Nvidia stock is doing something it hasn’t done in years
That scale has already drawn sharp reactions online. Investor Michael Burry, known for his bet against the 2008 housing bubble, wrote on social media that Nvidia would effectively be guaranteeing OpenAI’s own spending on Nvidia chips.
Tech commentator Ed Zitron raised similar doubts about where the underlying capital would originate. The concerns echo an earlier debate after OpenAI began building its own chips to reduce its dependence on Nvidia hardware for certain workloads.
What comes next for Nvidia investors
Nvidia has increasingly positioned itself as more than a chip supplier. Recent deals, including Rubin architecture agreements tied to government-backed projects abroad, show the company acting as financier, matchmaker, and equipment vendor all at once, a shift analysts at Bank of America have flagged as a multi-year revenue driver worth watching closely.
That expanded role carries real earnings weight behind it. According to a TheStreet report, Nvidia posted $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue, up 65% from the prior year, and its data center business remains the primary driver behind that growth, even as the company works to keep gaming revenue from slipping further down its list of priorities.
Shares closed Thursday, July 23, down 0.92% at $206.84 before slipping further another 0.02% to $206.80 in after-hours trading. Investors must now weigh whether guaranteeing hundreds of billions in financing for a single customer strengthens Nvidia’s grip on the AI trade, or concentrates its risk in ways past chip cycles never did.
Neither Nvidia nor OpenAI has commented publicly on the reported talks so far. For now, the arrangement remains a proposal rather than a signed deal.
More on Nvidia & its stock:
- History of Nvidia: Company timeline and facts
- Who owns Nvidia? Top insiders & institutional investors
- Does Nvidia pay dividends? Payouts & yield amid the AI boom
- Nvidia’s stock split history: Everything you need to know
- How many employees does Nvidia have? From R&D to sales
- Nvidia’s headquarters: An ode to space and 3D rendering
