Artificial intelligence firm OpenAI and semiconductor-chip manufacturer Nvidia are banding together to support a large-scale data center in Ohio that is planned to provide at least 8 gigawatts, or 8 billion watts, of electrical power.
OpenAI entered into a 20-year lease agreement with SB Energy and SoftBank Group on Monday, with a $105 billion financial guarantee from Nvidia. The two technology companies are working together to create one of the largest AI-powered data centers in the United States.
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For comparison, the largest operating U.S. data center by power capacity is SpaceXAI’s Colossus 2 in Tennessee at 1.563 gigawatts. The new data center will also surpass the nation’s largest nuclear power plant. The Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia boasts a total net capacity of 4.658 gigawatts across four reactors.
The PORTS-Pike Technology Data Center, located in Pike County, is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 and 2,500 long-term operating positions. By 2028, the facility is set to generate 800 megawatts before construction is complete. There are plans to eventually expand its power capacity to 10 gigawatts.
SB Energy intends to pay in full for all upgrades to the electric grid and new transmission lines, so that the state government or electricity ratepayers won’t have to bear the cost.
The move is reminiscent of the White House’s ratepayer protection pledge, which prevents tech companies from passing on the costs of data-center development to utility customers. Energy prices and water consumption are among the key concerns raised by residents opposed to data centers.
Unlike the majority of data centers, the PORTS-Pike project will use closed-loop, air-cooled systems to recirculate water rather than cooling towers that continuously consume water. The project is being built at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a former uranium enrichment facility in the rural southern Ohio county.
The data center’s backers are cooperating with the Department of Energy on leveraging the site’s existing water system.
“We appreciate the Trump Administration’s leadership in helping advance the redevelopment of this federal site for American AI infrastructure,” OpenAI said in a statement. “This gives a site that once supported American industry and national security a new role building infrastructure for the Intelligence Era.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously spoke about the massive project at an event in March, saying the data center will be “bigger than any facility ever built in world history.”
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Nvidia is proud to be supporting the PORTS-Pike data center project as the U.S. competes in the AI race.
“Now is the time to scale the AI infrastructure that will power the next industrial revolution,” Nvidia CEO and President Jensen Huang said in a news release. “We are securing long-lived infrastructure for NVIDIA compute so OpenAI can deploy the most productive AI factories that can be upgraded repeatedly with each new generation delivering more intelligence and better economics.”
