OpenAI is in discussions regarding leasing a proposed 10GW data center being developed by SB Energy in Ohio.

The data center project in question is on federal land - owned by the US Department of Energy - at the Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio.

SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company, has been planning to develop the site since March 2026. OpenAI is an investor in SB Energy.

According to a report from The Information, OpenAI is in "advanced negotiations" regarding the project, citing sources with direct knowledge of those conversations.

Those sources estimated that the campus could have a total cost of $500 billion if fully built out, based on today's inflated prices for chips, labor, power, and other materials. The equipment would be controlled by OpenAI under a long-term lease.

The first phase - 800MW - is expected to start operations in 2028. Ground was broken on the project in March 2026, according to The Information.

OpenAI would use Nvidia hardware at the site, and Nvidia reportedly would provide a financial guarantee for OpenAI’s lease and SB Energy’s future project financing.

SB Energy will invest $33.3bn in Japanese funding for 9.2GW of new natural gas generation at the site. The power plant will be owned by the US government.

News that a data center might be coming to Pike County surfaced 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.

SoftBank previously purchased a former General Motors factory from Foxconn in Lordstown, Ohio, with the site potentially earmarked for an OpenAI data center under the Startgate project. It seems set instead to serve as a factory that will produce equipment for OpenAI data centers. In November 2025, Lordstown banned all data center proposals.