Nvidia is negotiating with OpenAI to guarantee $250 billion in financing for a data center, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The figure marks one of the largest infrastructure commitments yet tied to artificial intelligence compute buildout. Neither Nvidia nor OpenAI has confirmed the reported terms, and the talks may not result in a final agreement, the Journal noted.

By Amara Osei

What does the reported deal involve?

According to the WSJ account, the arrangement would see Nvidia back financing for a data center — the physical facility housing the GPU clusters that train and run large AI models. OpenAI, which spends heavily on compute to train systems such as its GPT model family, would be the counterparty.

A $250 billion guarantee would exceed the gross domestic product of many countries and rank among the largest single commitments in the history of data center construction. The report did not specify which banks, lenders or jurisdictions would structure the financing.

The takeaway: a chip supplier would be underwriting its customer's compute capacity at unprecedented scale.

Why would Nvidia guarantee the debt?

Nvidia sells the majority of the accelerators used to train frontier AI models. Its data center revenue has driven the company's market valuation past $3 trillion. Guaranteeing financing for a customer such as OpenAI would tie the chipmaker's balance sheet directly to demand for its own hardware.

Such a structure carries clear logic and clear risk. If OpenAI's compute demand holds, Nvidia secures a long-term buyer of its GPUs. If demand or OpenAI's finances falter, Nvidia would remain liable for guaranteed sums.

In short: the reported deal would convert a supplier relationship into a credit exposure measured in the hundreds of billions.

What happens next?

Neither company has commented publicly beyond the Journal's report. Any finalized agreement would likely draw regulatory attention, given ongoing scrutiny of tie-ups between AI chip suppliers and model developers.

For now, the $250 billion figure stands as a reported number, not a signed contract — but it calibrates the scale at which AI infrastructure is now being financed.