Update: SB Energy has confirmed that Nvidia plans to invest $1.5bn into the business, as well as help back OpenAI's massive data center in Ohio. More here.

Original story: Nvidia is considering investing up to $3 billion in data center developer and power platform SB Energy.

According to reporting from The Information, the chip giant is in talks with the SoftBank-backed company, which is the primary developer of a planned up to 10GW data center in Pike County, Ohio, in partnership with OpenAI.

Reports suggest that the investment would be part of its up to $100bn credit support of the Ohio Campus, which could cost an estimated $500bn if fully built out.

Nvidia has discussed investing $1.5bn when the deal for the Ohio data center is signed, and the other half as part of SB Energy’s planned initial public offering. News that SB Energy was intending to file for an IPO was revealed in May.

OpenAI is also an investor in SB Energy.

The first phase of the data center is expected to start operations in 2028, at 800MW. Ground was broken on the project in March 2026, according to The Information. OpenAI would use Nvidia hardware at the site, and Nvidia would reportedly provide a financial guarantee for OpenAI’s lease and for SB Energy’s future project financing.

In July, reports surfaced that Nvidia was in talks with OpenAI to provide a $250bn backstop for the data center, which would allow SoftBank to raise debt at more favorable terms, making the facility more viable. That has reportedly been reduced to around $120bn.

SB Energy will invest $33.3bn in Japanese funding for 9.2GW of new natural gas generation at the site. The US government will own the power plant, and the site will be located on Department of Energy land.

News that a data center might be coming to Pike County emerged in January. New Day Data Centers LLC proposed developing a data center campus at the Department of Energy (DOE)-owned Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Scioto Township.

Constructed in the 1950s and located south of Piketon, the plant previously produced enriched uranium, including highly enriched weapons-grade uranium, for the United States Atomic Energy Commission, the US nuclear weapons program, and Navy submarines. In later years, it produced low-enriched uranium for fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors.

The DOE listed the plant as one of 16 sites on federal land for "rapid data center construction” last year.

Nvidia has made a spate of investments across the AI sector over recent months. In March, it committed $2bn to AI cloud provider Nebius. It followed this up with multibillion-dollar investments into Safe Superintelligence and Iren.