August 15, 2026, (Inside AI) — Nvidia has slashed its planned financial guarantee for an OpenAI data center from $250 billion to under $120 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter. The move addresses investor anxiety over the scale of risk tied to the project.
The revised commitment marks a dramatic retreat from earlier ambitions. The original figure would have been one of the largest private infrastructure guarantees in tech history. Nvidia and OpenAI have not publicly commented on the reported change.
Reuters could not independently verify the report, which emerged late Friday. The scale of the reduction suggests board-level pressure to cap exposure to a single customer's infrastructure buildout.
A $130 Billion Retreat From OpenAI's Compute Ambitions
The data center project is central to OpenAI's long-term compute strategy. Training frontier models requires tens of thousands of accelerators, and dedicated facilities reduce reliance on public cloud providers.
Nvidia's role as both chip supplier and financial backer created an unusual concentration of risk. Investors questioned whether a $250 billion guarantee would strain Nvidia's balance sheet if OpenAI's demand projections missed targets.
The new ceiling of $120 billion still represents a massive commitment. It signals continued confidence in AI infrastructure demand, but with guardrails that did not exist in the original plan.
Wall Street's Risk Calculus Forces a Rare Pullback
Nvidia's market value has swung wildly over the past year as investors debate the durability of AI capital expenditure. A $250 billion contingent liability would have amplified those concerns.
The reported decision aligns with a broader trend of hyperscalers and chipmakers renegotiating terms on mega-projects. Delays in power availability, cooling constraints, and construction timelines have pushed several large data center deals into revision.
For OpenAI, the reduced guarantee may force a search for additional backers. Microsoft, Oracle, and sovereign wealth funds have all been floated as potential partners for large-scale compute infrastructure.
The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter but did not name them. Neither Nvidia nor OpenAI responded to requests for comment before publication.
The original $250 billion figure was first reported earlier this year, though neither company ever confirmed it publicly. The new report suggests internal negotiations have been ongoing for months.
If finalized, the revised guarantee would still rank among the largest infrastructure commitments in corporate history. But the halving of the figure reflects a maturing market where capital discipline now competes with AI ambition.
