NVIDIA to lower investment in OpenAI's Ohio data center
What's the story
NVIDIA has revised its financial backing plans for the proposed OpenAI data center in Ohio. The chipmaker is now expected to initially guarantee less than $120 billion, a significant drop from the previously discussed amount of $250 billion, reported The Wall Street Journal. The change comes after investors expressed concerns over NVIDIA's risk exposure related to large financing commitments.
Project progress
Deal expected to be finalized soon
The WSJ report also said that NVIDIA and OpenAI are close to finalizing a deal, with the chipmaker likely to provide financial backing only for the first phase of the project.
The agreement could be signed as early as this weekend.
This comes after NVIDIA partnered with six major financial institutions on Monday to launch compute financing platforms aimed at raising over $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure.
Lease
OpenAI yet to secure lease for the project
OpenAI is still negotiating a binding lease for the full 10-gigawatt project in Ohio.
The site, which is being developed by SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary, would be the largest data center project ever announced if completed.
The development would bring OpenAI closer to owning its own AI infrastructure.
However, questions remain over its ability to fund such large-scale commitments given that it remains unprofitable despite an $852 billion valuation.