A massive data center for OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company that created ChatGPT, is planned for Southern Ohio.
The San Francisco-based company announced Aug. 17 it will lease space for its hyperscale, 8-gigawatt data center at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, around 100 miles east of Cincinnati. That amount of electrical power would make it the largest AI data center in the world, Chris Wright, U.S. Secretary of Energy, said during the campus's groundbreaking in March.
Nvidia, the Santa Clara-headquartered tech giant, is investing $1.5 billion into the site's owner, SB Energy. The center will exclusively host Nvidia infrastructure.
This will be the second time Ohio makes data center history. Meta, the owner of Facebook,
is currently expanding its 1-gigawatt Prometheus AI data center in New Albany, Ohio, which will be the world's first gigawatt-capable data center.
Hyperscale data centers ‒ sprawling campuses that are used for AI and processing large amounts of data ‒ are on the rise in Ohio. There are more than 230 data centers in the state, according to Data Center Map, a global directory of data centers.
Data centers power websites, social media and AI, and store data. They've faced criticism from politicians and Ohioans for draining local resources.
Congress defines hyperscale data centers as ones that occupy at least 10,000 square feet of space and use more than 100 megawatts of electric power. That amount of power is enough to support the electricity needs of 80,000 households, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
By that math, the amount of electrical power the OpenAI site will be able to use is equivalent to that of around 6.4 million homes.
But the campus won't be using all that power right away. It will take years, permits and thousands of construction jobs to get there.
Where is the OpenAI data center being built?
Japanese-owned SB Energy, a company that builds the infrastructure needed for AI work, owns the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. OpenAI will lease the space from SB Energy, which will build and operate the data center.
The PORTS-Pike Technology Campus is on the site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a nuclear plant that was used for decades to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
It's too contaminated for residential use and is currently being cleared of radioactive and other pollution. But its size and infrastructure made it an ideal site to be redeveloped into a data center, OpenAI said in a press release.
What is a megawatt? What is a gigawatt?
A megawatt is a unit of power that's equal to one million watts of electricity. It's a large amount of electricity that can power hundreds of homes.
By contrast, a standard, non-LED lightbulb may use between 25 and 100 watts of power.
A gigawatt is equal to 1,000 megawatts and might be used to describe the power used by a city.
How big will it be?
The campus is still being designed. OpenAI has not shared its potential square footage.
By 2028, the campus will use 800 megawatts of power. Increasing that amount will require new power plants connected to the grid, natural gas generation, new transmission lines and other new infrastructure.
The center will have 8 gigawatts of computing capacity ‒ the electrical capacity that's available to servers and other equipment, not necessarily the amount of power the center will draw continuously ‒ by the end of construction. Another 2 gigawatts of power will be used for power conversion, cooling and other systems needed to operate the site, making the total power of the site 10 gigawatts.
How much will it cost?
The first phase, which will allow for the 800-megawatt center, will cost $30 billion to $40 billion, said Ally Copple, the spokesperson for SB Energy.
Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy and provide credit support for the land, power and buildout needed for the center's first 4.25 gigawatts ‒ about half the total power. The data center will exclusively host Nvidia AI computing infrastructure.
All of the development will depend on getting the required infrastructure, permits, environmental reviews and financing, OpenAI said in the release.
SB Energy will pay for the necessary power grid upgrades and new transmission and OpenAI will pay for the power capacity. The electricity and infrastructure costs will not be passed onto residents.
When will construction start?
Phase one construction will ramp up this year, Copple said. Construction for the full campus will continue through 2032.
Will the data center create jobs?
Building the campus is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs, with priority given for regional workers, through 2032. Once the campus is open, roughly 2,500 people will be employed to maintain and run the data center.
How do residents feel?
Throughout Ohio, residents have mostly led the fight against the spread of data centers. A group in Trenton, Ohio, recently tried to ban the construction of all hyperscale data centers in response to two upcoming campuses. Similar bans have been pushed for in cities and towns across the state.
In Pike County, OpenAI and SB Energy have tried to win over residents with large investments in the community.
Two villages sit roughly 10 miles north of the site: Piketon, small and historic with roughly 2,300 people, and Waverly, the county seat with over 4,100 residents.
OpenAI announced it will contribute $40 million to a resident-steered community grant fund. SB Energy also previously announced a $40 million commitment. OpenAI will also give every Ohio college student access to ChatGPT.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: OpenAI to build world's biggest AI data center in Ohio. What we know
