OpenAI in talks to lease 10 gigawatt Ohio data center on federal land with Nvidia backing, cost up to 500 billion dollars
OpenAI is in talks to lease a 10 gigawatt data center on federal land in Ohio, with backing from Nvidia $NVDA, according to The Information. The campus at the former Portsmouth plant in Pike County could cost at least $500 billion to build, with the first phase expected in 2028.
OpenAI is in advanced talks to lease a proposed 10 gigawatt data center campus on federal land in Ohio, in a deal that could include financial backing from Nvidia $NVDA, according to The Information and reporting relayed by Reuters. The site would sit on Department of Energy land at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County, southern Ohio, and would be developed by SB Energy, a unit of SoftBank. Based on current prices for chips, power, labor and other inputs, the campus could cost at least $500 billion to build. Under the structure described, OpenAI would control the equipment at the facility through a 20-year lease, with payments starting once operations begin and the first phase expected in 2028. The talks build on a letter of intent that Nvidia and OpenAI signed in September 2025 covering at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems, alongside a commitment from Nvidia to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as capacity comes online. If completed, the arrangement would rank among the largest single-site commitments to AI computing made to date.