Report: OpenAI reportedly commits to 8 GW of Ohio AI capacity

• OpenAI will be the tenant for about 8 IT-GW at PORTS-Pike, beginning with a 4.25 IT-GW deployment. The early tranche was described as “4+ GW” in the capacity post.
• Delivery is phased: the first 800 MW is expected in 2028, with a six-year buildout through 2032, according to the PORTS-Pike overview.
• NVIDIA will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, while the financing terms in the financing post point to an up-to-$105 billion contingent obligation tied to completed facilities.
• At least 10 GW of new energy generation and $4.2 billion in regional grid investment are planned. SB Energy will cover project-specific grid costs rather than pass them to ratepayers, according to WesRoth's report.

OpenAI’s announcement and NVIDIA’s SEC filing turn an 8-GW headline into a specific land, power and shell arrangement. That physical-infrastructure framing was emphasized by WesRoth, while the filing describes when NVIDIA’s backstop can actually be called.

SB Energy’s release assigns distinct jobs to the three companies: SB Energy builds, owns and operates the campus; OpenAI leases it for 20 years; NVIDIA supplies the compute stack.

• The initial deployment supports 4.25 IT-GW, using NVIDIA’s DSX platform of GPUs, CPUs and networking.
• NVIDIA has the option to support the remainder of the eight-IT-GW site. SB Energy describes that increment as 3.75 IT-GW, while NVIDIA’s filing rounds it to approximately 3.8 IT-GW.
• NVIDIA has secured the campus’s land, power and shell capacity for NVIDIA compute, subject to limited exceptions in the filing.

NVIDIA’s 8-K makes it the residual-value backstop for leases covering the initial 4.25 IT-GW. The cumulative cap is $105 billion, and the agreements require the relevant premises to meet ready-for-service conditions, expected from 2028.

• A trigger requires OpenAI’s insolvency default or a missed lease payment.
• NVIDIA then covers the shortfall between a guaranteed minimum lease value and proceeds from a replacement lease or sale.
• NVIDIA can assume the lease, require reletting, start a sale, terminate the lease, or defer remedies for up to a year while paying specified project-agreement costs.
• The guarantee ends at the earliest of 20 years after lease commencement, an allowed OpenAI termination, OpenAI reaching a satisfactory credit rating, or other customary events. OpenAI agreed to reimburse and indemnify NVIDIA for actual payouts.

The project uses two different capacity figures: SB Energy and SoftBank plan at least 10 GW of new energy generation to support eight IT-GW of AI-factory load. They also plan at least $4.2 billion in regional grid infrastructure through an AEP Ohio partnership designed to protect ratepayers, per the SB Energy release.

The campus is expected to come online in phases beginning in 2028. The 800-MW first phase and 2032 end point in the PORTS-Pike overview put the advertised capacity on a six-year construction path; the financing post lists new generation, transmission, permitting, environmental review and financing among the dependencies for later stages.

OpenAI’s announcement projects 35,000 construction jobs during the buildout and 2,500 long-term operating jobs. Its additional $40 million takes the community-benefits fund, first seeded by SB Energy, to $80 million.

The project statement also earmarks up to $84 million in Codex credits for approximately 844,000 eligible Ohio students.