Forbes tallies up to $164.5 billion of Nvidia guarantees and commitments tied to data centers

Forbes reported on October 21, drawing on Nvidia's latest quarterly filing, that the company has placed as much as $164.5 billion of guarantees and commitments behind data centers that run its chips, and has invested or pledged more than $7 billion directly into AI cloud providers. The largest piece is a guarantee on lease payments for an Ohio campus being built for OpenAI, which The Information puts at up to $105 billion. The rest spans committed purchases of unsold cloud capacity, directly signed data center leases passed through to customers, and guarantees on leases signed by cloud providers. For long-horizon holders, this widens the set of contingent obligations to weigh against reported revenue growth.

1. Forbes reports Nvidia has put up to $164.5 billion of guarantees and commitments behind data centers, per its latest quarterly filing.
2. Nvidia has invested or pledged more than $7 billion directly in AI cloud providers.
3. The Information estimates the largest item, an OpenAI-linked Ohio lease guarantee, at up to $105 billion.
4. Other components reported at about $36 billion (unsold cloud capacity purchase commitments), $20 billion (directly signed leases) and $3.5 billion (guarantees on provider-signed leases).