Nov 20 (Reuters) -

SoftBank plans to invest up to $3 billion to overhaul an electric vehicle facility

in Lordstown, Ohio, which will produce equipment for OpenAI's forthcoming data centers after

being remodeled, The Information reported on Thursday.

The plant will manufacture equipment for data centers in Milam County, Texas, and other

locations, the report said, as the Japanese conglomerate goes all-in on the startup at the heart

of the generative AI boom.

SoftBank, which

sold

its $5.8 billion stake in leading chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ) to bankroll CEO Masayoshi Son's

sweeping AI push centered around ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, purchased the Lordstown site in August

for $375 million.

OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank announced in September

plans for five U.S. AI data centers

for the $500 billion Stargate project, a plan to build out a nationwide advanced AI

network.

This investment is part of a broader joint venture announced at the White House in January,

where SoftBank pledged $18 billion, according to The Information.

The Ohio factory is building modular data centers, portable, pre-assembled units allowing

for faster deployment and scalable capacity on site, The Information reported. The facility will

include a small working data center as a demonstration model, according to the report.

Manufacturing of modular data center units is expected to start early next year, the

report said.

SoftBank and OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

On a livestream in October, Sam Altman said OpenAI aims to build 30 gigawatts of computing

capacity at an estimated cost of $1.4 trillion, and ultimately scale to adding about 1 gigawatt

a week, even though current costs run above $40 billion per gigawatt.

Unlike rivals Meta and Google, OpenAI does not have an advertising or cloud services

business to help cover the cost of building out these data centers.