SB Energy is a SoftBank Group subsidiary, also backed by OpenAI, that develops large-scale power and data-center infrastructure in the United States. Founded in 2019, it is building several multi-gigawatt data-center campuses for AI workloads, including OpenAI's planned Ohio campus and a 1.2-gigawatt site in Milam County, Texas (Source: sbenergy.com; reuters.com). It describes itself as "backed by SoftBank Group and OpenAI" and "made up of power and data center veterans" (Source: sbenergy.com).
Infobox
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| Parent / backers | SoftBank Group (parent); OpenAI (investor) |
| Business | Power generation and hyperscale data-center development |
| Named campuses | Ohio (OpenAI); Milam County, Texas (1.2 GW) |
| Leadership named in sources | Abhijeet Sathe, co-chief executive |
| IPO status | Targeting a listing as soon as September 2026; at least $5 billion sought |
| Web | sbenergy.com |
Snapshot
Financing and corporate events
| Date | Item | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-15 | Equity discussion | Nvidia in talks to invest up to $3 billion; roughly half discussed at signing of the Ohio deal, half at SB Energy's planned IPO | (Source: reuters.com) |
| 2026-08-15 | IPO plan | Listing targeted as soon as September 2026; at least $5 billion sought | (Source: reuters.com) |
| 2026-08-15 | Credit support | Nvidia, OpenAI and SB Energy discussing around $100 billion in credit support for the Ohio campus, down from a $250 billion guarantee previously discussed | (Source: reuters.com) |
| 2026-03-19 | Partnership | OpenAI and SoftBank Group announce partnership with SB Energy; OpenAI selects SB Energy to build and operate the 1.2 GW Milam County site | (Source: sbenergy.com) |
All August 2026 figures are reported as terms under discussion, not as agreements signed. The Nvidia equity investment was described by The Information, and relayed by Reuters, as being in talks, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Business
SB Energy develops both the power generation and the data-center shell for hyperscale AI campuses, a combination it presents as delivering "critical physical infrastructure at scale" (Source: sbenergy.com). It states that initial facilities were under construction and expected to enter service starting in 2026 (Source: sbenergy.com).
To build in-house data-center capability the company acquired Studio 151, a data-center construction-management, procurement, engineering and operations firm the company describes as having worked on twenty data-center campuses. Co-chief executive Abhijeet Sathe stated that SB Energy and OpenAI had worked with Studio 151 across multiple projects over the preceding eighteen months (Source: sbenergy.com).
OpenAI relationship
OpenAI is both a customer and an investor. Announcing the March 2026 partnership, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman said that "partnering with SB Energy brings together their strength in data center infrastructure and energy development and OpenAI's deep domain expertise in data center engineering," describing the arrangement as "a fast, reliable way to scale compute through large, highly optimized AI data centers" (Source: sbenergy.com).
For the Milam County site the company states that it designed the data center to minimise water usage and plans to build new generation to serve its energy needs and "protect Texas ratepayers" — a framing that responds to the cost-allocation objections documented on Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics. The company states the project will create thousands of construction jobs (Source: sbenergy.com).
Ohio campus and the Nvidia financing
SB Energy is the developer of the Ohio data-center campus planned for OpenAI, and is therefore the entity at the centre of the financing restructure recorded on Nvidia & TSMC — AI Compute Infrastructure. As reported on August 15, 2026, Nvidia was in talks to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy — roughly half at the signing of the Ohio deal and roughly half as part of the planned IPO — alongside talks with OpenAI and SB Energy over around $100 billion in credit support for the campus, reduced from the $250 billion guarantee previously discussed (Source: reuters.com; reuters.com).
The structure ties a chip vendor's balance sheet to the equity and debt of the developer building capacity for its largest customer. It is an instance of the vendor-financing arrangements discussed on AI Bubble Debate and Private Credit & AI Infrastructure.
Relationships
- related: SoftBank Group — parent
- related: OpenAI — customer and investor; the campuses are built to its specification
- related: Nvidia & TSMC — AI Compute Infrastructure — discussed equity investor and credit-support counterparty for the Ohio campus
- deploys-in: Energy and Electric Power Sector — power generation built to serve data-center load
- related: Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics — the water, ratepayer and land questions the company's own materials address
- related: Private Credit & AI Infrastructure, AI Bubble Debate — the financing structures the Ohio arrangement is an instance of
Open questions
- Whether the Nvidia equity investment and the roughly $100 billion credit-support package were agreed is not disclosed; both were reported as under discussion on August 15, 2026.
- No IPO filing had been made public as of August 16, 2026, and the September 2026 listing target is attributed to people familiar with the discussions rather than to the company.
- The identity of the developer behind individual land acquisitions reported in Ohio-adjacent siting disputes is not established in the available reporting.
Sources
- Reuters / "Nvidia eyes investing $3 billion in SB Energy under OpenAI data center deal, Information says" (2026-08-15)
- Reuters / "Nvidia scales back funding guarantee for Ohio OpenAI data center, WSJ reports" (2026-08-14)
- SB Energy / "OpenAI and SoftBank Group Partner with SB Energy" (2026-03-19)
- SB Energy corporate site, retrieved 2026-08-16 — sbenergy.com