NVIDIA has announced it will serve as the exclusive artificial intelligence compute infrastructure provider at SB Energy's PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, in a sweeping partnership that brings together OpenAI, SoftBank Group, and a USD 1.5 billion direct investment from NVIDIA into SB Energy.

The deal, announced August 17, 2026, positions NVIDIA to secure land, power, and shell capacity at the campus for an initial 4.25 IT-gigawatt deployment of AI factory infrastructure, with an option to extend into the remaining 3.75 IT-GW of capacity at the site.

OpenAI will be the customer for the full 8 IT-GW campus and will operate under a 20-year lease with SB Energy, which will build, own, and operate the data center facilities.

The Scale of the Infrastructure Commitment

The PORTS-Pike campus is being developed on and around the decommissioned Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Appalachian Ohio, spanning both private and federal land. Its development is being carried out in collaboration with AEP Ohio, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S.

Department of Commerce. Capacity is expected to come online in phases beginning in 2028.

To power the 8 IT-GW of AI factory capacity at the site, SB Energy and SoftBank have committed to building at least 10 gigawatts of new energy generation. Alongside that, the partners will invest at least $4.2 billion in new regional grid infrastructure through a partnership with AEP Ohio that the companies describe as designed to protect ratepayers.

The AI factories at PORTS-Pike will run on NVIDIA's full-stack DSX AI factory platform, which includes GPUs, CPUs, and networking.

NVIDIA describes the DSX architecture as delivering resilience across facilities, hardware, and software simultaneously, reducing infrastructure overhead and accelerating what the company calls "time to tokens" for next-generation AI deployments.

NVIDIA also notes that the infrastructure is designed to be upgraded with each new hardware generation.

NVIDIA's Strategic Move to Control Land, Power, and Shell

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang framed the deal as part of a broader strategic imperative to secure the physical infrastructure underlying AI development at scale.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Huang said that land, power, and shell have become vital assets in the AI era, and that securing long-lived infrastructure for NVIDIA compute allows customers like OpenAI to deploy AI factories that can be upgraded repeatedly over time.

By taking on credit support for the initial land, power, and shell buildout, NVIDIA is positioning itself not just as a chipmaker but as a guarantor of physical AI infrastructure, a notable expansion of the company's role in the supply chain for large-scale AI deployments.

OpenAI's Role and Community Commitments

OpenAI will be the sole customer for the full 8 IT-GW of capacity at the site. CEO Sam Altman described the campus as one that will have enough computing power to help millions of people use AI across applications ranging from medical research to business development and complex problem-solving.

Altman said OpenAI is committed to ensuring that the residents of Pike County feel tangible benefits from the investment.

That commitment is backed by a financial pledge. SB Energy had previously announced a USD 40 million community benefits fund tied to the project.

OpenAI has agreed to contribute an incremental USD 40 million to that fund, bringing the total to USD 80 million.

The combined fund is designated to support affordable energy, job creation, workforce development, and broader community and economic development in the region.

Beyond the community fund, the project is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in Ohio, and the partners have stated the campus will pay for its own power infrastructure rather than shifting costs onto existing ratepayers.

NVIDIA's USD 1.5 Billion Investment in SB Energy

In addition to securing the physical capacity at PORTS-Pike, NVIDIA will invest $1.5 billion directly into SB Energy. The investment makes NVIDIA a financial stakeholder alongside SoftBank Group and OpenAI, both of which are existing investors in the energy developer.

SB Energy's co-CEO Rich Hossfeld described the project as power-first infrastructure being built at unprecedented scale, emphasizing the company's focus on protecting ratepayers, generating well-paying jobs, and revitalizing Southern Ohio.

He noted that the broader ambition is to build infrastructure capable of supporting the AI economy at a level the industry has not previously attempted.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, said in a statement that the next era of intelligence will require infrastructure built at unprecedented speed and scale, and that the partnership is intended to help unlock the power of artificial general intelligence.

Reindustrializing Appalachian Ohio

The choice of Pike County as the site for one of the largest AI infrastructure projects ever announced carries significant symbolic and economic weight.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which the campus is redeveloping, is a former uranium enrichment facility that played a central role in American industrial and defense history.

SB Energy's project is explicitly framed as a reindustrialization effort aimed at restoring the region's role in American industry, this time centered on AI rather than nuclear materials processing.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan served as financial advisors for SB Energy on the transaction. Morgan Stanley served as NVIDIA's financial advisor.