Nvidia announced on Monday that it will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, a data center developer associated with SoftBank and OpenAI. The investment guarantees that Nvidia will be the sole provider of compute infrastructure at OpenAI’s Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio. Additionally, Nvidia will offer up to $105 billion in credit to support the construction of the facility, which could expand from an initial 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts, according to SEC filings. SB Energy’s existing investors include SoftBank and OpenAI, with SoftBank previously holding $5.8 billion in Nvidia stock, which it sold in November to fund other AI initiatives.
The project also involves the development of a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant on the site, which is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. The site has a historical connection to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and U.S. Navy submarines. The power plant is projected to cost $33 billion, reflecting the significant rise in natural gas plant construction costs, which have increased by 66% over the last two years, as reported by BloombergNEF. The completion of SB Energy’s power plant and others could lead to heightened competition for natural gas, potentially tripling prices in some regions.
The site previously served as a facility for enriching uranium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal and for U.S. Navy submarines. The U.S. Department of Energy owns the land where the power plant will be built.
Source: techcrunch
