Nvidia to invest $1.5B in SoftBank’s data center developer tied to OpenAI project

Nvidia announced it will invest $1.5B in SB Energy, a data center developer affiliated with SoftBank and OpenAI. The investment ensures Nvidia becomes the sole supplier of compute infrastructure for OpenAI’s Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio. Nvidia will also provide up to $105B in credit to support construction of the facility, which is designed to scale from an initial 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts.

SB Energy’s existing investors include SoftBank and OpenAI. SoftBank previously held $5.8B worth of Nvidia stock, which it sold in November to fund other AI investments.

The Ports-Pike site, owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, will also host a 9.2-gigawatt natural gas power plant. The plant is expected to cost $33B, reflecting rising costs for natural gas infrastructure, which have increased 66% over the last two years, according to BloombergNEF.

By the time SB Energy’s power plant and others are completed, they will compete for natural gas with export markets, a scenario that could triple natural gas prices in some regions of the U.S.