ChipsAugust 17, 2026via SiliconAngle
OpenAI leases 10-gigawatt AI data center campus from SoftBank’s SB Energy
Why it matters
OpenAI is betting long-term on bespoke, utility-scale infrastructure rather than cloud rental. A 10GW campus lease signals the frontier labs are moving toward owned/controlled compute ecosystems—a buildout story that reshapes how AI companies think about data-center economics and energy.
Key signals
- 10-gigawatt data center campus
- 20-year lease agreement
- Located in Ohio on former uranium processing plant
- Built by SB Energy (SoftBank subsidiary)
- August 2026 announcement
- Dedicated infrastructure commitment signals shift away from cloud-only model
The hook
10 gigawatts. OpenAI just locked in a 20-year data center lease from SoftBank—signaling how the compute arms race is shifting from deals to dedicated campus capacity.
OpenAI Group PBC today announced that it has signed a 20-year lease for a sprawling data center cluster in Ohio. The campus is being built on the premises of a former uranium processing plant. The construction project is led by SB Energy, a SoftBank Group Corp. unit that develops data centers and en…