OpenAI to lease massive new AI data center in US, backed by Nvidia

SAN FRANCISCO

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI will lease a massive new data center in the United States for 20 years, backed by a $105 billion financing commitment from Nvidia, according to a regulatory filing.

The project will be built on the site of a former Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant in Ohio and could eventually grow to have 8 gigawatts of capacity, making it the largest single data center for artificial intelligence(AI).

The data center will also run “exclusively” on Nvidia chips.

SoftBank and the data center’s owner, a subsidiary called SB Energy, will invest more than $4 billion into local energy infrastructure and “build at least 10 GW of new energy generation” to power the data center.

OpenAI will commit $40 million to “support local priorities.”

Additionally, Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion into SB Energy, though the company preemptively pushed back on critiques about so-called circular financing, which has fueled fears about an AI bubble that will eventually burst.

.OpenAI expects the project to create 35,000 temporary construction jobs over six years and 2,500 “long-term operating jobs,” it said in a blog post.

Promises about jobs and energy investments are a response to growing hostility toward data centers, which need heavy amounts of electricity and water to
operate.

More than 70 percent of Americans oppose building them near their homes, according to a Gallup poll from March, and rising electricity bills, attributed in part to these sites, are fueling debate in the midterm elections.