Nvidia eyes $3 billion investment in SB Energy for OpenAI data center deal

Chipmaker Nvidia is reportedly in discussions to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group. This potential investment is linked to broader negotiations concerning Nvidia's role in supporting OpenAI's planned massive data center project in Ohio. The Information reported the development, citing sources familiar with the discussions.

The proposed investment is understood to be part of Nvidia's commitment to provide approximately $100 billion in credit support for the Ohio data center campus. According to the report, Nvidia has discussed investing half of the $3 billion upon the finalization of the Ohio project deal, with the remaining half to be contributed as part of SB Energy's planned initial public offering (IPO). SB Energy is reportedly aiming to go public as early as next month, potentially raising at least $5 billion through the IPO.

SB Energy, which also counts OpenAI among its backers, focuses on developing large-scale power and data center infrastructure. Founded in 2019, the company is actively constructing multiple data center campuses to address the escalating demand driven by artificial intelligence workloads. This news follows a report from The Wall Street Journal indicating that Nvidia had revised its support plans for the OpenAI project, with initial guarantees expected to be less than $120 billion, down from a previously discussed $250 billion.

Nvidia and SB Energy have not yet responded to requests for comment outside of regular business hours. Reuters has not independently verified the report. The scale of these investments underscores the immense infrastructure requirements and financial commitments necessary to power the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence.