Nvidia is in talks to guarantee roughly $250 billion in financing for a huge OpenAI data center campus in Ohio, according to reports carried by Yahoo Finance, Quartz and Fortune India, which describes the discussions as advanced and the site as one of the world's largest AI data center campuses. OpenAI would lease it.
Under the proposed structure, according to the report summarized by MSN, Nvidia would guarantee multiple financing vehicles designed to reassure lenders that funding for the project is secure.
The guarantee looks like one piece of something larger. AOL and MSN report Nvidia is negotiating around $600 billion in OpenAI-related financing covering both the Ohio project and massive GPU purchases, while Yahoo Finance pegs Nvidia's recent run of deals at $750 billion. The Jerusalem Post called it a record AI financing deal. Separately, Yahoo Finance Canada reports SoftBank's OpenAI financing is moving forward.
Worth noting: the headline numbers shift depending on which outlet you read, and every account describes talks in progress. Nothing is signed.
The objection critics raise, per MSN and AOL, is "circular financing." Nvidia sells the chips. OpenAI needs money to buy the chips. Nvidia helps arrange the money. Critics warn that lets a supplier effectively underwrite demand for its own product, making the boom look sturdier than it is.
A guarantee is also not a check. Nvidia would not hand over $250 billion; it would promise to cover lenders if the project stumbles. That is cheap up front and expensive only if AI demand disappoints.
Why it matters: the AI buildout has grown so capital-hungry that the company selling the shovels is being asked to co-sign the loans, tying its own balance sheet to whether these enormous data centers ever pay for themselves.