Nvidia scales back funding guarantee

Nvidia has trimmed the financial guarantee it is prepared to offer for OpenAI's proposed data centre in Ohio, with initial backing now expected to fall below $120 billion from an earlier $250 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported the revision on Friday, citing individuals close to the discussions.

According to the paper, the two companies are near a deal under which Nvidia would back only the first stage of the project, and signing could happen as soon as this weekend. OpenAI has yet to commit to a binding lease for the entire 10-gigawatt site being built by SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary. If completed, the facility would rank as the largest data centre project announced so far.

The revised figure followed investor worries about Nvidia's exposure to heavy financing obligations, the newspaper added. The move came shortly after the chipmaker partnered with six large financial institutions to launch compute financing platforms that target more than $500 billion in outside capital for AI infrastructure. OpenAI, which remains loss-making despite a $852 billion valuation, is under scrutiny over whether it can fund such large commitments. Nvidia could not be reached for immediate comment after hours, while OpenAI declined to comment.