OpenAI in final talks to lease massive $500B data center complex in Ohio

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is in final negotiations to lease a massive 10-gigawatt AI data center complex under development in Ohio.

The Information reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Nvidia plans to provide a direct payment guarantee for the project.

The complex is being built on federally owned land and is considered the largest of its kind ever constructed.

Total project costs — covering labor, power equipment, materials and semiconductor prices — are estimated at a minimum of $500 billion (about 762 trillion won).

OpenAI intends to use the complex under a long-term lease. Under the plan, OpenAI would oversee operations after completion and assume financial obligations, including lease payments, once the project becomes operational.

The first phase of the data center complex is targeted to come online in 2028.

The Information said the deal, if finalized, would represent the largest self-owned infrastructure project in OpenAI's history.

OpenAI has largely relied on infrastructure from hyperscalers — large-scale data center operators such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services — to develop and run its cutting-edge AI models. At the same time, the company has been working to build infrastructure it can fully control.

The project involves two of OpenAI's key investors: SoftBank, a major shareholder, and Nvidia, a strategic investor in the company.

The site is owned by the US Department of Energy, and SB Energy — a company in which SoftBank holds a majority stake — is participating in the development. Nvidia has long signaled its willingness to help customers finance data center construction, but it has never before provided a direct payment guarantee on a project worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Some in the industry see the move as a strategic effort to counter Google, Nvidia's biggest rival in the AI semiconductor market.

The project will also place a significant financial burden on OpenAI.

Sources said the cost of a 20-year lease on the data center complex would run to at least tens of billions of dollars. OpenAI is also expected to separately raise $350 billion (about 534 trillion won) to secure AI infrastructure including semiconductors and servers.

OpenAI is also joining the wave of AI companies pursuing initial public offerings.

Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported Monday that OpenAI filed a confidential IPO application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a statement, OpenAI said it had not yet decided on a timeline and that the process could take time, as there are things the company can more easily do while remaining private. It added that it is keeping the option of an early listing open if it determines that is the best course, given the complex trade-offs involved.

Bloomberg said sources close to the matter indicated OpenAI is in discussions with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley about a listing as early as this fall.

One source also said OpenAI is planning a tender offer that would allow employees to sell their shares in the weeks before the listing.

OpenAI raised $122 billion (about 167 trillion won) from investors in March at a valuation of $852 billion (about 1,170 trillion won). The company has previously announced plans to invest roughly $600 billion (about 824 trillion won) in AI infrastructure by 2030.

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