Nvidia has not lent OpenAI a single dollar; what it signed is a residual-value guarantee, and Nvidia's valuation should carry it as a written put option. Per the 8-K: a residual-value guarantee on SB Energy's 4.25 GW, 20-year lease to OpenAI, capped at $105 billion, with only $1.5 billion of actual cash going into an equity stake in the developer.
The consensus reads the $105 billion as Nvidia financing or investing in OpenAI. The diary reads it as Nvidia selling the one thing OpenAI lacks, a credit rating: one termination condition is OpenAI obtaining a 'satisfactory credit rating', the consideration is the campus exclusively hosting Nvidia compute, and the trigger is bankruptcy or a broken lease.
NVIDIA 8-K (8/17): residual-value guarantee on SB Energy's 4.25 GW, 20-year OpenAI lease, capped at $105 billion, with cash limited to a $1.5 billion stake in the developer. NVIDIA press release (8/10): the '$500 billion financing platform' is a mobilization target, six parties signed only non-binding MOUs, and Nvidia backstops up to 25% of residual value per project. Lucent's peak vendor-financing commitments in 2000 were about $8.1 billion; this cap is roughly thirteen times that, a comparison of magnitude only.
For investors: when valuing Nvidia, treat the $105 billion contingent liability as a written put and tally off-balance-sheet exposure yourself; price compute-backed structured products that do not disclose advance rates and residual-value assumptions as unsecured. For founders: a compute contract propped up by this kind of guarantee means a counterparty is borrowing on your behalf; ask first who steps in the day the guarantee terminates.