NVIDIA reportedly weighs $250 billion guarantee for OpenAI, fueling another round of AI investment

[Financial News] NVIDIA is reportedly considering providing OpenAI with a payment guarantee worth about $250 billion, or roughly 365 trillion won, as part of a massive artificial intelligence infrastructure project promoted by the Trump administration. If the United States' largest data center project, with total costs exceeding $500 billion, becomes a reality, the scale of AI investment and its financing structure are expected to evolve once again.
On the 26th local time, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing multiple sources, reported that "NVIDIA is discussing a plan to provide about $250 billion in financial guarantees to support OpenAI's lease agreement for a data center in Ohio."
The project is a 10-gigawatt (GW) data center complex being developed in southern Ohio by an energy affiliate of Japan's SoftBank. Including NVIDIA AI semiconductors to be installed in the data center, the total project cost is expected to exceed $500 billion. Once completed, it would become the largest data center project ever announced.
NVIDIA's guarantee would strengthen OpenAI's credit and help the unprofitable, privately held company raise large-scale funds at lower interest rates. OpenAI currently lacks an investment-grade credit rating, making it difficult to secure large project financing on its own. However, WSJ noted that the final deal has not yet been confirmed and that the talks could still fall apart.
NVIDIA is also said to be discussing separate funding support for the purchase of AI semiconductors that will be used in the data center. The amount could reach as much as $350 billion.
The data center will require about 10GW of power, enough to supply electricity to millions of households. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2028 and will have a capacity of about 800 megawatts (MW).
The Trump administration is also deeply involved in the project. Under the recent trade agreement between the United States and Japan, Japan has agreed to build a $33 billion natural gas power plant on federal land in Ohio. The plant will be operated by SoftBank Energy, and the electricity it produces will be supplied to the data center. The United States and Japan are also discussing a structure in which they would share power-generation revenue for a certain period, after which the U.S. government would take most of the profits once Japan has recouped its investment.
WSJ described the deal as "an example of how AI financing is changing." It said the so-called "credit wrapper" model is spreading, in which large, highly rated technology companies use their financial strength to help AI startups fund infrastructure. Google, for example, is also known to have provided some financial support during the construction of AI startup Upwardy's data center.
Through this project, OpenAI is expected to secure its own AI infrastructure and reduce its dependence on cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle. The company recently raised its planned investment in computing infrastructure through 2030 from $600 billion to $750 billion.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter