NVIDIA Plans to Invest $3 Billion in SB Energy to Support OpenAI Project

CoinWorld reports:

According to foreign media reports, NVIDIA is in talks with SB Energy and OpenAI for an equity investment of up to $3 billion, aimed at supporting OpenAI's large data center project in Ohio, USA. In addition to direct investment, the parties are also discussing a credit support arrangement of approximately $100 billion.

Investment to Be Implemented in Two Phases

Reports indicate that this investment may be completed in two phases. After the project agreement is signed, NVIDIA may initially invest about $1.5 billion; subsequently, it will continue to invest approximately $1.5 billion through SB Energy's planned initial public offering (IPO). SB Energy is reportedly expected to launch its IPO as early as September, with a fundraising target of at least $5 billion.

This means that NVIDIA's role will no longer be limited to providing GPUs for the data center; it may also directly participate in the project’s capital structure design and bind subsequent computing power needs through equity and financing support.

Financing Scale Reduced from Earlier Plans

The overall scale of this Ohio project is significantly higher than the currently disclosed $3 billion investment. Previously, NVIDIA had discussed providing up to $250 billion in financing guarantees for the project, but recent reports indicate that this proposal has been scaled down, with preliminary guarantee amounts expected to be below $120 billion.

• Initial phase support scale of approximately 5 gigawatts
• Total planned scale of the park approximately 10 gigawatts
• Earlier total investment estimate of at least $500 billion

The adjusted plan may first cover the construction of the planned initial 5 gigawatts of data centers before deciding whether to continue supporting subsequent phases.

SB Energy's Role Continues to Expand

SB Energy has taken on a more significant position in OpenAI's infrastructure layout. Earlier this year, OpenAI and SoftBank agreed to invest $500 million in the company. Meanwhile, SB Energy has also been selected to build and operate a 1.2-gigawatt data center in Texas, which is linked to OpenAI's Stargate infrastructure plan.

SB Energy develops large energy projects and builds data centers. In the context of AI companies competing for power and computing resources, companies that possess both energy and data center capabilities are becoming increasingly valued.

NVIDIA Extends to Infrastructure Financing

This potential deal also reflects that NVIDIA is extending its business influence from chip sales to AI infrastructure financing. Recently, NVIDIA has partnered with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to promote a financing platform aimed at AI infrastructure, targeting to leverage over $500 billion in funds.

If it directly supports data center construction, NVIDIA can accelerate the implementation of downstream projects while also helping to solidify long-term demand for its hardware products. However, this model will also expose the company to greater risks regarding the operational performance of the data center projects themselves.

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