OpenAI is negotiating to lease a 10-gigawatt AI data center campus in Pike County, Ohio. This facility, situated on the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, represents a cornerstone of OpenAI’s ambitious Stargate initiative. The total investment is projected to exceed $500 billion over a 20-year period.
Nvidia is reportedly discussing credit support for the deal, potentially leveraging its balance sheet to facilitate the transaction. While Nvidia has previously committed $100 billion to hardware deployments, this financial backstop role introduces new strategic risks and opportunities for investors.
SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary, is managing development through a public-private partnership with the Department of Energy. The campus will integrate 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas power generation directly on-site. This co-location strategy aims to meet immense energy demands while navigating federal land leasing precedents established by the CHIPS Act.
The first phase targets 800 megawatts of capacity by 2028. However, Stargate leadership aims to reach full scale by late 2025, an aggressive timeline requiring parallel construction across multiple US locations. The reliance on natural gas raises immediate questions regarding carbon neutrality goals and environmental regulatory scrutiny.