Nvidia announced a $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy, a data center developer connected to SoftBank and OpenAI, securing its position as the sole compute infrastructure supplier for OpenAI’s planned Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio. Nvidia will also provide up to $105 billion in credit to support construction of the facility, which could eventually scale from an initial 4.25 gigawatts to as much as 8 gigawatts, according to filings with the SEC.
SB Energy’s existing backers include SoftBank and OpenAI. SoftBank had previously held roughly $5.8 billion in Nvidia stock before selling its entire stake last November to fund other AI-related investments.
As part of the project, SB Energy plans to build a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant on U.S. Department of Energy-owned land that was historically used for uranium enrichment supporting the nation’s nuclear arsenal and naval fleet. The power plant alone is expected to cost approximately $33 billion, reflecting a sharp rise in natural gas plant construction costs over the past two years.
The project adds to growing hyperscaler demand for natural gas infrastructure nationwide, a trend some analysts warn could strain domestic gas supplies and significantly raise prices in certain regions as new power plants compete with rising export demand.
