Nvidia is in talks to provide a roughly $250 billion backstop for OpenAI as part of a massive data center project, one of the most ambitious financial transactions yet in America's artificial-intelligence boom. The guarantees from Nvidia would help the ChatGPT maker lease a 10-gigawatt project that SoftBank energy subsidiary is developing in southern Ohio, people familiar with the matter said.

In total, the project could cost more than $500 billion, including the chips that would go inside the data centers. It would be the largest data center project announced to date. The power for the project is controlled by the U.S. government and funded separately by Japan under a recent trade deal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in deciding who will get the power, some of the people said.

Nvidia's backing would allow the data center developer, which is owned by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son's investment firm SoftBank, to raise debt at more favorable terms than it could if OpenAI had no financial backer, since OpenAI has no investment-grade credit rating as an unprofitable private company. The AI company has been in advanced talks to lease the site for several weeks.

OpenAI is among the companies that has shown most interest in the site, while Anthropic, Microsoft and Google have also spoken to Lutnick about it in recent weeks. AI companies are desperate to secure chips and power needed to run their models, making megaprojects that have government support or guaranteed power increasingly attractive.