Nvidia Invests $1.5B In SB Energy For OpenAI Data Center, Pushes Back On 'Circular Financing' Concerns

• Nvidia can potentially extend its support to another 3.75 gigawatts, bringing the site's potential footprint to 8 gigawatts.
• The company directly addressed concerns about 'circular financing,' saying OpenAI will pay the lease for the data center.
• It estimates the Ohio site could support multiple generations of AI systems and potentially represent $150 billion to $200 billion in Nvidia revenue per generation.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) stayed flat in morning trade on Monday after the company announced a $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy and a 4.25 gigawatt infrastructure agreement for a data center campus in Ohio where OpenAI will be the primary tenant.

Nvidia said it is partnering with SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy on the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. The deal marks Nvidia's first move into directly securing physical infrastructure sites, rather than just supplying the chips that go inside them.

NVDA stock edged 0.3% higher in morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the AI bellwether dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ territory over the past week.

Nvidia Sees Up To $600 Billion In Potential Compute Sales

Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion directly in SB Energy and guarantee LPS infrastructure covering about 4.25 gigawatts (GW) of initial capacity over 20 years. The agreement also gives Nvidia the option to extend that support to another 3.75 GW, bringing the potential footprint to 8 GW.

According to the company, each generation of its AI factory systems deployed at the site could represent roughly 1.5 million GPUs, potentially translating into $150 billion to $200 billion in Nvidia revenue per generation. The campus is expected to support multiple hardware upgrade cycles over the 20-year period.

Nvidia estimated that, when combined with OpenAI’s other existing and planned commitments through 2030, the relationship could eventually represent up to 16 GW of compute capacity and roughly $600 billion in potential revenue.

Nvidia Pushes Back On 'Circular Financing' Concerns

The Jensen Huang-led company has also been on investors’ radar on allegations of effectively financing the infrastructure needed to generate demand for its own chips, most notably by ‘The Big Short’ investor Michael Burry.

Nvidia addressed that issue directly, stating that the arrangement does not constitute circular financing because OpenAI will pay the lease.

The company said its guarantee applies to defined portions of lease and power payments, along with a residual-value commitment, rather than covering the full cost of the data center. Nvidia’s exposure will also phase in as the data centers come online between 2028 and 2030 and decline as OpenAI makes lease payments.

The Ohio project builds on infrastructure already being developed by SB Energy and SoftBank, including plans for 10 GW of new power generation and $4.2 billion in Ohio grid infrastructure.

NVDA stock has gained nearly 20% this year and over 25% in the last 24 hours. 

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