βš™οΈ AI Hardware

SoftBank's $66 Billion Ohio AI Gamble: Gas Turbines or Grid Killer?

Ever wonder if AI's power hunger will turn Ohio into a gas-guzzling dystopia? SoftBank's 10GW data center plan, rivaling nine nuclear plants, says yes β€” and it's costing $66 billion.

Priya Sundaram πŸ“… Mar 20, 2026 ⏱️ 3 min read πŸ‘οΈ 10 views
Aerial view of vast Ohio data center site with gas turbines and cooling towers under construction

⚑ Key Takeaways

  • SoftBank's 10GW Ohio data center could be world's largest, costing $66B total.
  • Relies on $33B gas turbines equal to nine nuclear reactors β€” power shortcut with big emissions.
  • Tied to US-Japan $550B pact; risks grid strain and green backlash by decade's end.

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Priya Sundaram
Written by

Priya Sundaram

Hardware and infrastructure reporter. Tracks GPU wars, chip design, and the compute economy.

#AI power demand #Ohio data center #SoftBank AI data center #natural gas turbines

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Originally reported by Tom's Hardware - AI

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