Every tech company is paying attention to OpenAI. SB Energy cannot look away.
The data center developer filed its prospectus on Monday to go public, and it is uniquely intertwined with the AI lab behind ChatGPT, according to figures from the new filing.
Everywhere SB Energy operates, there’s OpenAI: leasing data center capacity, owning billions of dollars in warrants, and even inking an OpenAI software deal through 2028. OpenAI, if it gets a 5% ownership stake in SB Energy, will also get to elect a member of the company’s board of directors.
SB Energy’s decision to go public highlights the incredible costs involved in building it new data centers and the rapacious demand for computing power that OpenAI and its peers have generated in recent years.
SB Energy is building its first two data center locations, both in Texas. One of these will be assigned to OpenAI, the other to Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which owns more than half of SB Energy. The developer also plans to build a massive new data center in Southern Ohio, with help from OpenAI and Nvidia. That data center site, with a planned capacity of 8 gigawatts, will be one of the largest in the world and will serve OpenAI.
In the filing, the developer warns about its depth relationship with OpenAIwho has submitted his own file in confidence prospectus for an initial public offering and is expected to go public next year.
“We are dependent on OpenAI as a tenant of our data center, which represents a significant portion of our signed lease capacity, and any adverse change in OpenAI’s financial condition, competitive position or willingness to fulfill its contractual obligations could materially and adversely affect our business,” SB Energy wrote.
SB Energy declined to comment. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
OpenAI will have a stake of up to $5.5 billion
SB Energy gives part of itself to its largest customer. According to the IPO prospectus, the company granted equity warrants for OpenAI in early 2026, when the lab invested in SB Energy and signed on as a data center tenant. The deal will deliver parts of SB Energy in several tranches, linked to the public offering and future valuation milestones.
When the warrants were issued, they were worth $3.6 billion, and that value has grown to an estimated $5.5 billion as of June 30, according to the filing.
The filing also states that, provided OpenAI owns at least 5% of SB Energy shares, it can nominate a candidate for SB Energy’s board.
This style of arrangement is becoming increasingly common in the era of expensive infrastructure expansions OpenAI is on the rise billions of dollars to get as much computing power online as possible. The company has made deals with Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Oracle, AMD and other tech giants, and has sometimes committed to spending money on the same companies it sources investments from.
SB Energy and OpenAI have a range of other commitments
A deal between SB Energy and OpenAI also gives the AI lab some other nice benefits, including intellectual property rights.
SB Energy has committed to spend at least $50 million on OpenAI services, including ChatGPT Enterprise, through 2028.
OpenAI’s numerous ties to SB Energy may pose a conflict of interest, the filing said. It says that SB Energy’s board could find it difficult to enforce lease obligations against such a significant investor, and that The interests of OpenAI as a tenant can ‘deviate’ from his interests as a warrant holder.
In a section on the company’s risks, SB Energy writes: “Any disruption to our relationship with OpenAI could harm our financing arrangements, limit our development flexibility and materially and adversely affect our liquidity and the value of our common stock.”
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