Nvidia e OpenAI they prepare a new leap of scale in the global race for artificial intelligence. The chip group is reportedly in talks with the company led by Sam Altman for finance with 250 billion dollars building a gigantic data center intended for AI systems.
The news was reported exclusively by Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the project. If confirmed, the operation would represent one of the most significant infrastructure investments never imagined in the technology sector and the largest data center project for artificial intelligence announced to date.
A 10-gigawatt pole in southern Ohio
The project concerns the construction of a hub with a 10-gigawatt energy capacity in southern OhioAn exceptional size even by the standards of large processing centers, called upon to sustain ever-increasing power consumption to train and operate generative artificial intelligence models.
To develop the plant it would be one SoftBank's energy subsidiary, the Japanese conglomerate among the world's largest investors in the technology sector. The initiative would involve also energy resources controlled by the US government, confirming the strategic value attributed to the infrastructure.
The availability of stable, continuous, and competitively priced power has become a major constraint on AI growth. Specialized servers and processors require enormous amounts of electricity, making power supply as important as chip availability.
OpenAI would use the leased facility
OpenAI It should not become the direct owner of the data center. ChatGPT's parent company would use the infrastructure through a leasing agreement, paying for access to the computing power made available by the new hub. This formula would allow OpenAI to secure long-term resources without directly supporting the entire investment required to build and operate the facility. For the company, being able to rely on such a large computing capacity would be crucial for developing new models, improving their performance, and supporting a growing audience of users and applications.
The negotiations with Nvidia would therefore play a central role in defining the financial structure of the operation. The figure on the table, $250 billion, would be unprecedented for a single AI hub.
Nvidia tightens control over AI supply chain
For Nvidia, the main supplier of processors used in AI systems, the project could open a new chapter in the expansion strategyThe group would no longer simply sell chips and computing platforms, but would directly contribute to financing the infrastructure needed to fuel demand.
This project is yet another demonstration of how the competition in artificial intelligence is shifting from software models alone tothe ability to build data centers, secure energy supplies and secure thousands of advanced processors.
The Ohio hub would thus become the symbol of the new phase of the AI boom in the United StatesA race in which the availability of computing power can determine which companies will be able to develop the most advanced systems and which, instead, will risk being left behind.
