SB Energy's 10 GW Ohio Campus Is Raising Capital Faster Than It Is Moving Dirt
Juan Felipe Hernandez
- SB Energy's PORTS Technology Campus in Piketon, Ohio is planned at 10 GW of AI data center capacity at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a Cold War uranium enrichment site, served by at least 9.2 GW of new gas generation.
- The generation carries $33.3 billion of Japanese funding under the U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement, and SB Energy is paying $4.2 billion for new 765-kilovolt transmission and four substations through AEP Ohio.
- Four months after the March 20, 2026 groundbreaking, the PORTS Technology Campus has one permit application on file, an Ohio EPA wetlands application filed May 28, 2026, and no air permit, gas pipeline filing or transmission case.
- SB Energy told the Ohio EPA the campus would occupy roughly 1,016 acres of private farmland held under purchase options, and says it has not settled how the 10 GW divides between that land and the federal site.
- Satellite imagery of the federal site from February 12 to July 17, 2026 shows no new construction footprint, while Nvidia is reported in talks to guarantee roughly $250 billion of OpenAI's lease at the campus.
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On March 20, 2026, the U.S. Energy and Commerce secretaries stood on Department of Energy land in Piketon, Ohio with SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son and broke ground on the PORTS Technology Campus. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called it "the largest bet on a construction facility ever made in history." The site is the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which enriched uranium for four decades. SB Energy plans 10 GW of AI data center capacity there, served by at least 9.2 GW of new gas generation.
Four months later the financing has grown and the record has not. Nvidia is now reported to be weighing a guarantee of roughly $250 billion behind OpenAI's lease at the campus. Against that, the public file holds a single permit application, and satellite imagery of the federal site shows no new construction.
What SB Energy has actually locked in
The 9.2 GW of gas generation carries $33.3 billion of Japanese funding under the U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement, the first tranche of a $550 billion commitment. The Department of Energy puts the first phase at $10 billion for an 800 megawatt data center, carrying 4,000 construction jobs and 300 to 400 permanent ones.
On the wires, SB Energy has committed to pay the full $4.2 billion for new 765-kilovolt transmission and four substations built through AEP Ohio. DOE says the two will agree a dedicated data-center rate structure "ensuring the cost of new power plants and transmission lines is paid by the project itself, not Ohioan families or small businesses." AEP Ohio expects power to begin flowing to the site in 2029. In June the campus also became the first project designated under the FAST-41 federal permitting sector for high-performance computing, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as lead agency.
What the site record shows
Four months after the ceremony, the public record holds:
- One permit application. SB Energy filed with the Ohio EPA on May 28, 2026, covering wetlands, streams and wildlife impacts.
- Federal permitting coverage. On June 16, 2026 the campus became the first project listed under FAST-41's high-performance computing sector.
- No transmission case yet. AEP Ohio has chosen a preferred route, but as of July 21 had not filed the Baku to Gavin 765-kilovolt line, Case No. 26-0426-EL-BTX, with the Ohio Power Siting Board.
- No air permit, and no gas line. Inside Climate News reported on May 2 that there were "no filings yet for the plant itself or a gas line to serve the plant."
- Not in the federal generator file. The project appears in none of the 30,594 rows of the Energy Information Administration's May 2026 generator inventory.
Source: the Ohio EPA application reported by WOUB; the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council; AEP Transmission; Inside Climate News; and the Aterio U.S. Data Center dataset.
Across thirteen satellite scenes of the federal site between February 12 and July 17, 2026, the plant's footprint is unchanged: no graded pads, no laydown yards, no foundations.
Figure: The federal PORTS site at Piketon, Ohio, February 12 to July 17, 2026, spanning the March 20 groundbreaking. The private parcels north and east of this footprint are not covered by this sequence. Captured via Sentinel-2 satellite, sourced through Copernicus; image analysis by Aterio. Source: Aterio U.S. Data Center dataset.
Figure: The Portsmouth site on June 24, 2026, three months after the groundbreaking. The existing plant occupies the west side of the property; the surrounding acreage, including the private parcels to the north and east, remains farmland and woodland. Captured via Airbus satellite imagery, June 24, 2026; image analysis by Aterio. Source: Aterio U.S. Data Center dataset.
Two sites, and the split is not settled
That record covers only the federal site. In its May application, SB Energy told the Ohio EPA the 10 GW complex would sit on roughly 1,016 acres of private land farmland north and east of the old plant, and that it "consists of several data center buildings and gas generation power plants." The company does not own that ground: it holds options to purchase from Woodburn Heights LLC, Green Eyes LLC and Roe Farms LLC.
How the campus divides between the two is still open. A spokesperson told WOUB that SB Energy "has not yet settled on a final layout, which would determine how much of that 10 gigawatts would go on the A-plant site and how much would go on private land." The distinction is not academic: the company would pay no property tax on the federal parcel, which belongs to the Department of Energy.
The tenant is not signed
The campus still has no announced anchor tenant. OpenAI has been in advanced negotiations since at least June 2026 to lease the site under a long-term agreement. What changed this month is how that lease would be underwritten. Nvidia is reported to be discussing a guarantee of roughly $250 billion standing behind OpenAI's lease payments and construction debt but excluding chip purchases, plus about $350 billion to finance the chips themselves.
The reason is the tension in one line: OpenAI cannot obtain an investment-grade credit rating, so lenders funding a campus of this size would price its lease as unsecured risk, and a guarantee from its chip supplier fixes the cost of debt. It also tightens an already close circle, because SoftBank and OpenAI each put $500 million of equity into SB Energy in January 2026, making the prospective tenant a shareholder in its prospective landlord. Terms are not settled. SB Energy, for its part, confidentially filed for a U.S. listing in May 2026.
Key project parameters:
- Developer: SB Energy (SoftBank Group), with AEP Ohio on the grid side, in Piketon, Pike County, Ohio.
- Site: Department of Energy land leased to an SB Energy affiliate, plus roughly 1,016 acres of adjacent private farmland under purchase option; the split is undetermined.
- Capacity: 10 GW of data center capacity at full buildout, with at least 9.2 GW of new natural gas generation built to serve it.
- Capital: $67.2 billion disclosed across campus, generation and grid, of which $33.3 billion is Japanese funding; potentially more than $500 billion all-in with hardware.
- Grid: $4.2 billion of new 765-kilovolt transmission and four substations through AEP Ohio, funded by SB Energy, with power expected in 2029.
- Schedule and jobs: an 800 MW first phase targeted for 2028 at $10 billion, carrying 4,000 construction and 300 to 400 permanent jobs, within a program DOE sizes at more than 10,000 construction jobs over four years. A $40 million community benefits agreement is committed.
Source: the U.S. Department of Energy; AEP Ohio; the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council; WOUB; and the Aterio U.S. Data Center dataset.
Bottom line
The capital behind the PORTS Technology Campus is unusually firm for this stage: sovereign-backed funding behind the generation, a transmission bill the developer pays rather than ratepayers, and a site that needs no rezoning fight. The record underneath it is thin. Four months after a groundbreaking attended by two cabinet secretaries, the public file holds one wetlands application for farmland the company does not yet own, the transmission case is unfiled, and the satellite shows a federal site that has not moved.
What to watch: whether SB Energy exercises those purchase options and where the layout lands, AEP's transmission filing ahead of 2029, the first Ohio EPA air permit for the generation, and whether the Nvidia guarantee is signed or quietly shelved. Aterio ran the same read on Williams' 2 GW on-site power fleet for Meta in New Albany and on what it actually costs to move 1,000 MW of power. In Piketon, the announcements are ahead of the paperwork, and the paperwork is ahead of the dirt.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Nvidia need to guarantee OpenAI's Ohio data center lease?
OpenAI does not hold an investment-grade credit rating, so lenders financing the PORTS Technology Campus would price its lease as unsecured risk. Nvidia is reported to be in talks to guarantee roughly $250 billion of the lease and construction financing, which would let the developer raise debt on far better terms. The guarantee covers the lease, not Nvidia chip purchases, and terms are not settled.
How much will the PORTS Technology Campus cost?
The PORTS Technology Campus carries $67.2 billion in disclosed infrastructure capital: about $30 billion for the data center campus, $33 billion for 9.2 GW of natural gas generation, and $4.2 billion for transmission. Including computing hardware, the total could exceed $500 billion, with a separate Nvidia chip financing arrangement reported at roughly $350 billion still under discussion.
Has construction started at the Piketon PORTS Technology Campus?
The PORTS Technology Campus held its groundbreaking on March 20, 2026. Satellite imagery of the federal site, from February 12 to July 17, 2026, shows no new construction footprint across that window. The first phase is an 800 MW data center targeted for 2028 at a stated $10 billion, with grid power expected to flow in 2029.
Where will the PORTS Technology Campus actually be built?
Across two sites. SB Energy leases Department of Energy land at the former Portsmouth plant, and in a May 2026 Ohio EPA application described the 10 GW complex as sitting on roughly 1,016 acres of private farmland nearby, held under purchase options from three landowning companies. SB Energy says it has not settled a final layout, so how the 10 GW divides between federal and private ground is undetermined.
What permits does the PORTS Technology Campus still need?
As of July 2026 the PORTS Technology Campus has one permit application on file, an Ohio EPA wetlands and streams application filed May 28, 2026. It received FAST-41 federal permitting coverage on June 16. No Ohio EPA air permit for the generation has been published, no gas pipeline filing has been reported, and AEP Ohio had not yet filed its transmission case with the Ohio Power Siting Board.
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