On Monday, Nvidia announced a $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy, a data center company associated with SoftBank and OpenAI.
This investment positions Nvidia as the exclusive provider of compute infrastructure for OpenAI’s Ports-Pike data center, located near Cincinnati, Ohio. Additionally, Nvidia is extending up to $105 billion in credit to support the construction of this facility, which is projected to expand from an initial capacity of 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts, as per SEC filings by the company.
SoftBank and OpenAI are among SB Energy’s current investors. Previously, SoftBank held Nvidia stock valued at $5.8 billion, which it divested in November to finance other AI-related ventures.
SB Energy, as the data center and power developer, plans to construct a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant on land belonging to the U.S. Department of Energy. This particular site was historically used for enriching uranium for both the U.S. nuclear arsenal and U.S. Navy submarines.
The estimated cost for the power plant is $33 billion. This substantial figure is attributed to the escalating construction expenses for natural gas power plants, which have seen a 66% increase over the past two years, as reported by BloombergNEF.
Upon completion, SB Energy’s power plant and similar facilities will face competition for natural gas from export markets. This scenario could potentially cause natural gas prices to triple in certain regions of the country.