Bhubaneswar, August 18, 2026 , Nvidia said in an August 17 blog post that it will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, a data center and power developer linked to SoftBank and OpenAI, a deal that secures Nvidia as the exclusive compute supplier for OpenAI’s planned Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio. Nvidia SB Energy investment
The announcement, first reported by TechCrunch’s Tim De Chant, ties one of the AI industry’s largest chipmakers directly into the financing and infrastructure of one of its largest planned data center campuses. Beyond the equity investment, Nvidia will extend up to $105 billion in credit to help finance construction of the facility, according to documents SB Energy filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Ports-Pike site could scale from an initial capacity of 4.25 gigawatts to as much as 8 gigawatts, the filings show.
Key Facts
- Nvidia is investing $1.5 billion in SB Energy and will be the sole supplier of compute infrastructure at OpenAI’s Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio, Nvidia said on August 17.
- Nvidia will also provide up to $105 billion in credit toward building the facility, according to SEC filings.
- The Ports-Pike campus could grow from 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts of capacity, per the same filings.
- SB Energy’s existing investors include SoftBank and OpenAI; SoftBank previously held $5.8 billion in Nvidia stock, which it sold in November to fund other AI investments, according to a CNBC report.
- SB Energy plans to build a 9.2-gigawatt natural gas power plant at the site, which sits on land owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and was previously used to enrich uranium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal and Navy submarines, per Department of Energy materials.
- The gas plant is expected to cost $33 billion, TechCrunch reported in February, a figure that reflects a 66% rise in natural gas power plant construction costs over the past two years, according to BloombergNEF data cited by TechCrunch.
Why It Matters
The deal shows Nvidia moving beyond simply selling chips to directly financing the power and data center infrastructure that its chips will run on. By taking an equity stake in SB Energy and extending tens of billions of dollars in credit, Nvidia ensures long-term, exclusive placement of its hardware at one of the largest data center projects tied to OpenAI, locking in demand years into the future. For SoftBank and OpenAI, the investment brings in fresh capital and a committed compute partner at a moment when data center construction costs, especially for natural gas power plants, are climbing sharply. The arrangement also illustrates how AI infrastructure financing has become circular: Nvidia, SoftBank, and OpenAI are increasingly investors in and customers of each other’s projects, a dynamic that ties their financial fortunes closely together as the buildout scales into the tens of billions of dollars.
The Details
Nvidia disclosed the investment in a blog post published Monday, August 17, framing it as part of the company’s broader push to secure infrastructure for what it calls “the infrastructure of intelligence.” The $1.5 billion stake goes to SB Energy, the SoftBank-linked developer behind the Ports-Pike project.
In exchange, Nvidia becomes the exclusive provider of compute infrastructure at the site, according to Nvidia’s announcement. The company’s separate commitment of up to $105 billion in credit is intended to help fund construction of a data center campus that SEC filings show could eventually reach 8 gigawatts of capacity, up from an initial 4.25 gigawatts.
SB Energy’s investor base already includes both SoftBank and OpenAI. SoftBank’s relationship with Nvidia has shifted over the past year: the company held $5.8 billion worth of Nvidia shares before selling its entire stake in November 2025 to redirect capital toward other AI investments, CNBC reported at the time.
To power the Ports-Pike campus, SB Energy is planning a 9.2-gigawatt natural gas power plant on Department of Energy land at the site, according to Department of Energy fact sheet materials. The location carries an unusual history: it was previously used to enrich uranium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program and for Navy submarines.
The power plant’s projected $33 billion cost, first reported by TechCrunch in February, comes as natural gas plant construction costs have risen 66% over the past two years, according to BloombergNEF data. TechCrunch reported in April that surging demand from data center developers has been a primary driver of that cost increase.
That cost pressure could intensify further. TechCrunch reported on August 14 that SB Energy’s plant and other similar projects will eventually compete for natural gas supply with export markets, a dynamic that, according to one forecast cited in that report, could triple natural gas prices in some parts of the country.
What Happens Next
Construction and financing timelines for the Ports-Pike campus were not detailed in Nvidia’s announcement or the SEC filings. How the project’s power costs evolve , particularly as natural gas demand from data centers competes with export markets , is likely to remain a point of scrutiny as SB Energy moves forward with the 9.2-gigawatt gas plant.