Photo: Coolcaesar / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) The chipmaker's financing guarantees for OpenAI's massive Ohio data center have drawn comparisons to dot-com era circular financing, sending Nvidia shares down roughly 5%.
Nvidia is reportedly in advanced talks to provide around $250 billion in financing guarantees for OpenAI’s plan to lease a massive data center in southern Ohio. The facility would boast a staggering 10-gigawatt capacity, potentially making it the largest announced AI data center hub on the planet.
Separate discussions involve chip purchases worth up to $350 billion, which means the overall project could exceed $500 billion when everything is factored in.
The circular financing problem #
Analysts have flagged this arrangement as indicative of “circular financing” or “bubble-like behavior,” drawing explicit parallels to the dot-com era. Nvidia’s stock dipped approximately 5% following reports of these latest negotiations.
During the dot-com bubble, telecom companies like Lucent Technologies extended generous vendor financing to customers who then used that money to buy Lucent equipment. Revenue looked fantastic on paper. Then the customers couldn’t repay the loans, and the whole edifice collapsed. Lucent’s stock went from over $80 to under $1.
A deal that keeps evolving #
A letter of intent dated September 22, 2025, indicated Nvidia’s commitment to invest up to $100 billion progressively to support OpenAI’s deployment of Nvidia systems, starting with an initial $10 billion tranche.
Reports indicate there were doubts within Nvidia itself, and the commitment was subsequently scaled back to discussions of $30 billion in investments by February 2026. The Wall Street Journal reported on July 26, 2026, that negotiations for the $250 billion financing guarantee are active and advancing.
The proposed 10 GW data center capacity in southern Ohio involves power considerations that reportedly touch on US government elements. For context, 10 gigawatts is roughly enough electricity to power a mid-sized European country.
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