---
title: "OpenAI signs 20-year, 8GW Ohio data center lease backed by Nvidia"
url: https://www.parallelquant.com/posts/openai-signs-20-year-8gw-ohio-data-center-lease-backed-by-nvidia-63c155
source_name: "The Decoder"
source_url: https://the-decoder.com/openai-signs-record-ohio-data-center-lease-with-nvidia-backing-up-to-105-billion/
published: 2026-08-17T14:13:26.000Z
topics: ["chips", "policy"]
publisher: "Parallel Quant"
---

# OpenAI signs 20-year, 8GW Ohio data center lease backed by Nvidia

*2026-08-17 · Source: [The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com/openai-signs-record-ohio-data-center-lease-with-nvidia-backing-up-to-105-billion/)*

OpenAI signed a 20-year lease for an 8-gigawatt data center in Ohio. Nvidia is guaranteeing up to $105 billion for the residual value of the facilities and becomes the exclusive chip supplier for the site. The Wall Street Journal reports nine tech companies now hold roughly $3 trillion in AI infrastructure commitments that don't appear on any balance sheet.

**Why it matters:** This is the largest single guarantee yet in a growing pattern of Nvidia backstopping its own customers' data center buildouts — a financing structure that props up chip demand while shifting balance-sheet risk onto residual-value guarantees rather than OpenAI's books. The scale here, plus the off-balance-sheet framing, sharpens the same sustainability question raised by Nvidia's recent move to halve its separate OpenAI data center pledge.

**Topics:** chips, policy

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Read the original: https://the-decoder.com/openai-signs-record-ohio-data-center-lease-with-nvidia-backing-up-to-105-billion/
Canonical: https://www.parallelquant.com/posts/openai-signs-20-year-8gw-ohio-data-center-lease-backed-by-nvidia-63c155
Published by Parallel Quant — https://www.parallelquant.com