GoKawiilCEO of OpenAI Sam Altman walks through the Hart Senate Office Building, following meetings on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 3, 2026.
OpenAI is in discussions with Nvidia about a backstop of up to $250 billion that would help fund its ambitious plans to lease a massive new artificial intelligence data center, CNBC confirmed.
The backstop would let OpenAI raise debt for a 10 gigawatt data center campus in Pike County, Ohio, on the strength of Nvidia's credit, according to a source familiar with the discussions who asked not to be named because the details are confidential. The guarantee would cover the lease and construction debt, not the Nvidia chips inside, which the two companies are discussing separately, the person said.
Nvidia declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the negotiations about the $250 billion backstop.
The large site in Ohio once functioned as a uranium-enrichment plant, the person said. A gigawatt is a measure of power, and 10 gigawatts is roughly equivalent to the annual power consumption of 8 million U.S. households, according to a CNBC analysis of data from the Energy Information Administration. The data center campus could cost more than $500 billion in total, the person said.
The talks about the site and its financing are in progress and still subject to change, according to another source familiar with the plans who asked not to be named due to confidentiality.