OpenAI PORTS-Pike: 8 IT-GW Ohio Data Center Contractor Watch

OpenAI has signed a 20-year agreement for approximately 8 IT-gigawatts at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. OpenAI's August 17 announcement identifies SB Energy as the company that will build, own, and operate the data center, with OpenAI using the delivered capacity. The campus will exclusively host NVIDIA AI compute infrastructure.

The agreement converts a massive Southern Ohio development concept into a source-backed tenant and capacity story. It also creates a long runway for contractors. OpenAI expects a six-year buildout through 2032, projects 35,000 construction jobs and 2,500 operating jobs, and says local workers, contractors, suppliers, trades, and service providers will receive priority. Package-level awards remain largely undisclosed.

Project fact	Verified detail	Reporting boundary
Tenant commitment	About 8 IT-GW	20-year OpenAI lease
Developer / operator	SB Energy	Build, own, operate
Compute platform	NVIDIA	Exclusive campus platform
First delivery	800 MW in 2028	Expected availability
Buildout	Through 2032	Six-year OpenAI outlook
Current stage	Planned / preconstruction	Permitting still active
Jobs	35,000 construction	OpenAI projection

Capacity language needs careful separation. The approximately 8 IT-GW figure is OpenAI's contracted capacity. The official PORTS-Pike project page describes a broader 10 GW data-center campus and 10 GW of new power capacity, including 9.2 GW of natural-gas generation. OpenAI expects the first 800 MW to become available in 2028, largely through existing AEP infrastructure. NVIDIA's defined credit support covers land, power, and shell associated with an initial 4.25 IT-GW. Each number describes a different layer of the program.

Total data-center construction cost has not been published. NVIDIA plans to invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy and provide the defined credit support for the initial 4.25 IT-GW land, power, and shell. The separate $33 billion generation figure and AEP's $4.2 billion transmission plan apply to power infrastructure. Contractors should avoid treating those amounts as the budget for data halls, campus networks, security, life safety, controls, or tenant fit-out.

Two land programs and an active federal review

The physical site spans private land and remediated federal property near the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The FAST-41 permitting dashboard describes a private-land program covering approximately 1,300 acres with two data-center buildings, roads, administrative buildings, substations, laydown yards, and parking. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the lead agency for the federal review.

A separate Department of Energy project update identifies an initial phase on 189 federal acres. DOE documented a March ceremonial groundbreaking and said development was expected to begin in 2026. The reviewed evidence supports a planned and preconstruction status while environmental review, infrastructure delivery, financing, and permits continue. A ceremonial event alone does not establish active data-hall construction.

The land distinction will matter when permit packages, site plans, subcontracting opportunities, and inspection authorities appear. Federal-land work can carry different access, environmental, documentation, safety, and procurement requirements from adjacent private parcels. Crews may also face legacy-site controls tied to the former enrichment complex. Contractors should prepare for strict badging, site access, environmental coordination, safety documentation, and auditable closeout processes.

Named organizations and open construction roles

Organization	Source-backed role	Current pursuit signal
SB Energy	Builder / owner / operator	Delivery and procurement
OpenAI	20-year tenant / user	Capacity and standards
NVIDIA	Compute / finance support	Design and testing
SoftBank Group	Parent / project backer	Program capital
DOE	Federal land partner	Lease and redevelopment
AEP Ohio	Transmission partner	765 kV program
USACE	Federal review lead	Permit milestones
NABTU	Labor MOU partner	Workforce pathways

SB Energy has the central delivery role. OpenAI's announcement says SB Energy will build, own, and operate the data center and deliver capacity over time. OpenAI becomes the tenant, customer, and capacity user. NVIDIA supplies the exclusive AI compute platform, invests in SB Energy, supports part of the initial land-power-shell scope, and will collaborate with OpenAI through design, testing, and commissioning.

The reviewed sources do not name a data-center general contractor, EPC or EPCM, construction manager, architect, civil engineer, MEP engineer, electrical contractor, carrier, fiber or OSP contractor, structured-cabling contractor, security integrator, fire-alarm contractor, controls integrator, DAS provider, grounding contractor, equipment supplier, or independent commissioning authority. Bechtel and Kiewit have appeared in adjacent generation-delivery reporting. Current evidence does not assign either company a PORTS-Pike data-center GC award.

This open delivery map is valuable. An 8 IT-GW commitment produces many phases, buildings, substations, generation and transmission interfaces, campus pathways, security zones, testing events, and turnover sequences. Package owners may change across private land, federal land, shell construction, owner-furnished systems, tenant deployment, and utility work. Every award should be tied to the correct phase and scope.

Power and communications infrastructure

The first 800 MW is expected in 2028, with OpenAI describing existing AEP infrastructure as the primary support for that initial availability. Later phases require new generation, transmission, and associated infrastructure. AEP Ohio's official announcement describes a proposed $4.2 billion 765 kV transmission program funded by SB Energy, with power expected to begin flowing in 2029 after approvals and route development.

Transmission and substation construction create communications scope before the data halls reach commissioning. Watch for relay protection, SCADA, utility fiber, teleprotection, metering, equipment networking, remote alarms, time synchronization, physical security, grounding, control-house systems, testing, energization, and operational handoff. Route filings and Ohio Power Siting Board records can also expose crossing points, substation locations, construction sequences, and public milestones.

Campus power delivery adds EPMS, BMS, DCIM, generator and switchgear communications, battery monitoring, branch-circuit metering, alarm integration, historian data, network segmentation, and integrated systems testing. Platform selections and integrator assignments remain unpublished. Early coordination between electrical, controls, network, security, and commissioning teams will be essential at this scale.

Where low voltage shows up

Low-voltage lane	Project signal	Preparation focus
Fiber / OSP	8 IT-GW campus	Diverse routes and testing
Structured cabling	AI compute buildings	Pathways, labels, QA
Security	Federal and private land	Perimeter, access, CCTV
Fire / life safety	Mission-critical buildings	Interfaces and acceptance
Controls / OT	Power and cooling scale	BMS, EPMS, DCIM
DAS / radio	Large secure structures	Coverage and AHJ criteria
Grounding	High-density electrical plant	Bonding and test records
Commissioning	Phased delivery	IST and clean turnover

Fiber opportunity starts outside the buildings. A campus of this size will need carrier diversity, separated entrances, long duct-bank routes, handholes and vaults, high-count backbone fiber, splicing, optical-loss and OTDR testing, restoration, route records, and coordination with roads, fences, wet utilities, substations, and generation facilities. Carriers and route geometry have not been disclosed.

Inside the campus, contractors should expect high-density data-hall fiber, meet-me-room and telecom-room buildouts, equipment-room pathways, cable tray and ladder rack, support copper, labeling, redundancy controls, test limits, spare-capacity management, and electronic closeout. The tenant's AI architecture may also create specialized high-speed network qualification and component documentation. Project-specific standards will define the final split among shell, owner-furnished, tenant, and compute-platform scopes.

Security will cover wide perimeter zones, gates, vehicle and visitor processing, access control, CCTV, video management, intercom, secure areas, monitoring, cyber coordination, and phased expansion. The federal-property component may introduce additional access and compliance requirements. Security designers and integrators should watch site plans, procurement notices, job postings, and building permits for platform and responsibility clues.

Fire and life safety will coordinate electrical rooms, battery systems, generators, cooling equipment, secure doors, suppression systems, and emergency response. Likely work includes initiating and supervisory devices, suppression interfaces, door and HVAC control, emergency communications, generator and battery monitoring, supervising-station paths, cause-and-effect testing, special inspections, and authority acceptance. Current sources publish no system manufacturer, designer, contractor, or final code path.

OpenAI says the data center will use closed-loop, air-cooled systems that recirculate water. The project plans to leverage DOE's onsite water system and fund new local water infrastructure. That design creates controls and instrumentation work around cooling equipment, leak detection, water monitoring, alarms, metering, BMS integration, network segmentation, trend data, and functional testing. Final water use and detailed cooling design will follow later engineering.

Workforce, prequalification, and skills

OpenAI projects 35,000 construction jobs during the six-year buildout and 2,500 long-term operating jobs. The company says PORTS-Pike has signed a labor memorandum with North America's Building Trades Unions and plans to work with the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, affiliated crafts, schools, colleges, apprenticeships, veterans' organizations, and workforce groups. NABTU's apprenticeship resource and the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council are practical starting points for workforce monitoring.

The jobs figure spans a very broad program. It should not be treated as a current hiring count for low-voltage crews. Project-specific openings, apprenticeship announcements, contractor outreach, local supplier events, bid packages, and award notices will show when each specialty lane becomes actionable. AEP's careers channel can provide a separate view into utility and transmission hiring.

Prospective subcontractors should prepare bonding and insurance capacity, EMR and safety records, mission-critical references, workforce plans, QA/QC procedures, calibrated test-equipment records, manufacturer certifications, fiber-cleaning and test capability, background-screening readiness, cybersecurity practices, commissioning experience, and strong electronic closeout examples. Federal-site access and environmental controls may add documentation beyond a typical greenfield campus.

Technicians can strengthen readiness through BICSI optical-fiber training, BICSI copper training, FOA workforce resources, and OSHA outreach training. The strongest field teams will pair installation skill with disciplined labeling, inspection, test records, redlines, issue tracking, commissioning support, and clean digital turnover.

What contractors should watch next

The next high-value records are FAST-41 milestones, USACE authorizations, private-land and federal-land site plans, Ohio Power Siting Board transmission filings, substation and route details, state and local building permits, grading and environmental approvals, fire-code submissions, generator and air permits, water-infrastructure plans, and construction-start evidence. Each record can expose dates, authorities, buildings, utilities, and responsible companies.

The company layer matters in parallel. Watch SB Energy, OpenAI, NVIDIA, AEP Ohio, NABTU, the Ohio building trades, contractor plan rooms, supplier portals, equipment announcements, lien records, and construction or commissioning job postings. Source-backed names for the GC or EPCM, design team, electrical contractor, carriers, fiber and structured-cabling teams, security and fire-alarm integrators, controls vendors, DAS provider, grounding package, and commissioning authority will turn this broad program into a pursuit map.

PORTS-Pike now has a confirmed tenant, approximately 8 IT-GW of contracted capacity, a named builder-owner-operator, an exclusive compute platform, an initial 2028 delivery target, a six-year buildout, a labor framework, and active infrastructure and permitting work. LVN Signal will follow the project from federal review and transmission development through package awards, construction, energization, integrated testing, and phased turnover.