OpenAI in Advanced Talks to Lease Massive 10GW Data Center on Federal Land in Ohio
June 10, 2026
OpenAI in Advanced Talks to Lease Massive 10GW Data Center on Federal Land in Ohio
OpenAI is in advanced negotiations to lease a proposed 10-gigawatt data center being developed by SB Energy on federal land in Pike County, Ohio, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The project, located at the U.S. Department of Energy-owned Portsmouth Site, represents one of the largest proposed data center campuses in the world and underscores the escalating demand for AI computing infrastructure.
The site, formerly the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, has a history tied to uranium enrichment for the U.S. nuclear weapons program and commercial reactors. The Department of Energy last year identified the location as one of 16 federal sites suitable for rapid data center construction, signaling a strategic push to repurpose government-owned land for large-scale AI computing projects.
SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company, has been planning the development since March 2026, when ground was broken on the project. OpenAI, which is also an investor in SB Energy, is reportedly in advanced lease negotiations, with sources estimating the total cost of the fully built-out campus could reach $500 billion based on current prices for chips, labor, power, and other materials. The equipment on site would be controlled by OpenAI under a long-term lease arrangement.
The first phase of the data center, expected to deliver 800 megawatts of capacity, is slated to begin operations in 2028. OpenAI plans to use Nvidia hardware at the facility, and Nvidia is reportedly offering a financial guarantee to back OpenAI’s lease and support SB Energy’s future project financing, according to The Information, which first reported the negotiations.
To power the massive campus, SB Energy will invest $33.3 billion in Japanese funding to build 9.2 gigawatts of new natural gas generation at the site. The power plant will be owned by the U.S. government, marking an unusual public-private energy arrangement for a hyperscale AI data center project.
Separately, SoftBank previously purchased a former General Motors factory from Foxconn in Lordstown, Ohio, which was initially considered for an OpenAI data center under the Stargate project. That site now appears set to serve as a manufacturing facility producing equipment for OpenAI data centers, after Lordstown banned all new data center proposals in November 2025.
The scale of the proposed Pike County campus highlights the growing trend of AI developers seeking unprecedented amounts of power and land, often turning to federal properties with existing energy infrastructure. If completed, the project would dwarf most existing data center campuses and signal a new era of government-backed AI infrastructure development.
Source: datacenterdynamics
