$250 Billion for OpenAI: Nvidia's Risky Bet on AI

Symbolic image: data center · Photo: CC0

⏱ 40 sec read · As of: 27 July 2026

Chip giant Nvidia is in talks, according to the Wall Street Journal, over a massive financing guarantee of roughly $250 billion for ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

The backstop would help OpenAI finance a huge data center in the US state of Ohio – on the site of a former uranium enrichment plant. The full project could cost more than $500 billion, making it the largest data center ever announced. Separately, Nvidia is reportedly discussing financing OpenAI's purchase of its chips worth up to $350 billion.

For OpenAI it would be a first step toward controlling its own infrastructure instead of renting it from Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle. For Nvidia, it secures demand for its chips for years.

Critics warn, however: when a chipmaker guarantees its own major customer the money to buy its chips, a "circular" deal emerges. Prominent investor Michael Burry and others see a risk to the entire financial system. Nvidia's shares fell. Reuters could not immediately verify the report; a deal is not certain.

Why it matters to you: this decides who controls the infrastructure of artificial intelligence – and how much electricity it consumes. 10 gigawatts equals the power use of several million households. The AI question has long been an energy and finance question too.

Own synthesis based on reports from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC and Axios (as of 27 July 2026). These are reported, not yet confirmed, negotiations.

Symbolic image · Photo: "Data center roof", CC0, via Wikimedia Commons