The SF-based company is the prospective anchor tenant for the PORTS Technology Campus in Piketon, Ohio — one of the largest fossil-fuel-powered compute buildouts in U.S. history. No lease is signed, no environmental review has been published, and no carbon commitments are on record.

OpenAI, headquartered at 1455–1515 Third Street in San Francisco's Mission Bay, is in discussions to anchor a 10-gigawatt data center complex on a former Department of Energy nuclear site in Piketon, Ohio — a project that would draw 9.2 of those 10 gigawatts from newly built natural gas generation. The project, called the PORTS Technology Campus, had its groundbreaking on March 20, attended by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and was jointly announced by DOE and the Department of Commerce. SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy is committing $33.3 billion in capital for the gas infrastructure; AEP Ohio is co-investing $4.2 billion in transmission lines to connect the campus to the grid.

OpenAI's role is prospective tenant, not owner. The lease remains unfinalized as of June 2026. One structural detail that has appeared in trade reporting but not in official documents: Nvidia is reportedly the financial guarantor of OpenAI's lease obligation — meaning Nvidia's balance sheet would backstop the tenancy if OpenAI can't meet it. Neither company has confirmed this.

The emissions math at full build-out is large by any measure. Industry estimates put annual CO₂ output somewhere between 16 and 20 million metric tons at full capacity. The DOE has not published an official environmental projection, and no National Environmental Policy Act review has appeared in the public record for a project of this scale on a former federal Superfund-adjacent site. DOE's own article promoting the project cites Trump executive orders — including one titled "Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure" — as the legal basis for fast-tracking development, suggesting standard environmental review may be intentionally bypassed rather than merely pending.

The first phase — 800 megawatts — is targeted to be operational by 2028. Two cabinet secretaries attended the March groundbreaking. What hasn't followed: a signed lease with OpenAI, a filed NEPA review, or any public commitment on emissions from OpenAI, SB Energy, or DOE.

No SF elected official — on the Board of Supervisors or at City Hall — has publicly addressed what SF-headquartered AI companies are building out of state or proposed any disclosure requirement for data-center capacity, water use, or emissions footprint tied to city contracts or tax preferences.

What to watch: whether a formal NEPA review gets filed or formally waived before active construction advances; whether OpenAI confirms the lease and its terms; and whether any City official files legislation requiring SF-based AI companies to disclose the infrastructure they're building elsewhere. The gap between what these companies are developing and what the city knows about it is undocumented by design.