OpenAI, Nvidia and SB Energy Finalize 8 GW Ohio Data Center Deal with 105 Billion Dollar Nvidia Guarantee, JLL Reports 25 GW of North American Data Center Absorption in H1 2026 at 95 Percent Pre-Committed, Devon Energy and WhiteWater Reach FID on the 2.25 Bcf per Day Solitude Pipeline System, and Coastal Bend LNG Files with FERC on a 19.2 MTPA Texas Gulf Coast Export Terminal

The OpenAI Nvidia SB Energy Ohio Deal Formalizes the Largest Single Data Center Commitment in US History

On August 17, OpenAI, Nvidia, and SoftBank owned SB Energy finalized the 8 gigawatt PORTS Pike Technology Campus in Pike County Ohio. SB Energy will build, own, and operate the facility under a 20 year lease to OpenAI. Nvidia will invest 1.5 billion dollars into SB Energy and provide up to 105 billion dollars of credit support for the initial 4.25 IT gigawatt buildout, with an option to take the remaining 3.75 gigawatts. SoftBank and OpenAI will invest 1 billion dollars into SB Energy. The site is on land that includes federal property formerly used for uranium enrichment, and the US Department of Energy is directly involved in the project.

The scale of the Ohio commitment is unlike anything the American construction industry has previously absorbed at a single site. The first 800 megawatts is targeted to come online in 2028 and the full 6 year buildout is projected to create 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 and 2,500 long term operating jobs. To support the site, SoftBank and SB Energy plan to build at least 10 gigawatts of new power generation and invest 4.2 billion dollars in new regional grid infrastructure through a partnership with AEP Ohio. The overall Ohio project also envisions up to 9.2 gigawatts of new gas fired power generation, which US officials say Japan is funding under the 2025 trade and investment deal. This is a national security scale industrial deployment, not a hyperscale campus in the traditional sense. It is one of a growing number of gigawatt scale megacampuses being built in North America. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has publicly quantified the revenue impact for Nvidia as up to 200 billion dollars from the Ohio site alone and up to 600 billion dollars from OpenAI purchases of 16 gigawatts of computing power by 2030.

JLL Confirms 25 GW of North American Data Center Absorption in the First Half of 2026 with 95 Percent of Under Construction Volume Pre Committed and Vacancy at 1 Percent

The scale disclosed in the OpenAI Ohio announcement was reinforced by JLL's Midyear 2026 North America Data Center Report, released August 11. North America absorbed 25 gigawatts of data center capacity in the first half of 2026. That is double the level of a year earlier and five times the level of two years prior. Vacancy has remained at 1 percent for the third consecutive year, even as unprecedented volumes of new capacity move through construction. The report confirmed more than 66 gigawatts of data center capacity is now under construction across North America, and 95 percent of that under construction volume is already pre committed. To put the 66 gigawatt figure in context, JLL notes that its equivalent electricity requirement is greater than Germany, a country with roughly 84 million people and a 4.7 trillion dollar economy.

The under construction pipeline is also increasingly concentrated in gigawatt scale megacampuses, a category that essentially did not exist before 2025. As of August 2026, more than 10 such campuses are being built across North America. The largest include Fermi America's HyperGrid Project Matador near Amarillo Texas (up to 11 gigawatts planned, scalable to 17 gigawatts), the Lea County New Mexico Data Center at 7 gigawatts, Meta Hyperion at up to 5 gigawatts in Richland Parish Louisiana, OpenAI Project Camellia in Effingham County Georgia at 3.2 gigawatts, MSB Global Services's Matrix Data Center Campus at 3 gigawatts in Sulphur Springs Texas, and the Project Tembo campus in Cheyenne Wyoming at 2.7 gigawatts. These are the projects that are actively drawing structural steel, process module, modular skid, MEP, and craft workforce demand into the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast fabrication base, and they are on a scale that requires a fabrication and construction execution model built for gigawatt scale.

Devon Energy and WhiteWater Reach FID on the 2.25 Bcf per Day Solitude Pipeline, Coastal Bend LNG Files with FERC on a 19.2 MTPA Four Train Texas Gulf Coast Terminal, and the Bay Runner Twin is Sanctioned for Rio Grande LNG

The LNG and midstream pipeline continued to build in parallel with the data center announcements. On August 17, Devon Energy announced a positive final investment decision on the Solitude Pipeline System, a WhiteWater led joint venture that will construct two 48 inch natural gas pipelines connecting the Permian Basin to Katy Texas. The system is designed for a phased buildout of approximately 2.25 Bcf per day entering service in the second half of 2029, followed by a similarly sized second phase in 2030, with the ability to expand further to meet shipper demand. Devon confirmed the strategic logic explicitly: North American liquefaction capacity is expected to more than double by the end of the decade, and Solitude gives Devon firm long haul capacity to Gulf Coast markets, moving Permian gas out of Waha basis differentials and into LNG linked pricing. Devon has already secured a 100 million cubic feet per day international LNG linked pricing agreement beginning in 2027 and an additional 150 million cubic feet per day in 2028.

Coastal Bend LNG submitted its formal FERC pre filing request on August 5 for a 19.2 million ton per year LNG export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast. The project comprises four liquefaction trains of 4.8 million tons per year each, together with associated storage and vessel loading infrastructure. Coastal Bend expects to file its formal Section 3 application under the Natural Gas Act in early 2027. FEED and EPC contractor selection is already in place.

The Bay Runner Twin pipeline was sanctioned on July 31 by the Whistler joint venture (Enbridge holds a 19 percent stake) to deliver Permian gas into NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG facility. The Bay Runner Twin will provide up to 2.6 Bcf per day of incremental capacity between Agua Dulce and Rio Grande along the corridor of the currently under construction Bay Runner pipeline. Rio Grande LNG expects to ship its first product in 2027 and has 6.3 Bcf per day (48 million tons per annum) of LNG export capacity under construction and in development, with five liquefaction trains and two marine berths at the Port of Brownsville and expansion plans that include three more trains and another marine berth. Enbridge also confirmed on July 31 that the Blackcomb Pipeline, which will move up to 2.5 Bcf per day of gas from the Permian to Agua Dulce, has begun commissioning and will enter service and ramp up through the second half of 2026.

Aspen Midstream reached FID on the Aspen Katy Hub facility earlier this year. The project will include new compression infrastructure and low and high pressure header systems in the Katy Texas region and will provide approximately 3 Bcf per day of receipt and delivery capacity across eight major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines when it enters service in the first quarter of 2027. Delfin Midstream continued to advance FLNG2, the second floating LNG production vessel off the coast of Louisiana. Delfin issued a limited notice to proceed to Siemens Energy for four SGT 750 gas turbines and mixed refrigerant compressors, a key pre FID milestone as the parties advance toward a targeted year end 2026 FID. Delfin also entered into an agreement with MidOcean Energy under which MidOcean can acquire up to a 50 percent equity interest in FLNG2, subject to positive FID and customary conditions. Delfin's FLNG1 reached FID on June 3, 2026 at 4.4 million tons per annum and is currently in execution.

ENEOS Holdings Advances the 1.28 Billion Dollar TPC Group Acquisition Toward October Close, and the Petrochemical and Refining Pipeline Continues to Consolidate on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast

ENEOS Holdings continued to advance its August 7 definitive agreement to acquire TPC Holdings. The transaction values TPC at approximately 1.28 billion dollars including debt and is expected to close in October 2026 subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. Following completion, TPC will become a consolidated subsidiary of ENEOS under its High Performance Materials Segment. ENEOS will take control of TPC's petrochemical operations in Houston Texas and TPC's terminal operations at Port Neches Texas and Lake Charles Louisiana. The acquisition will elevate ENEOS to the world's third largest butadiene producer and strengthens the group's C4 chemicals business in North America.

The rest of the American petrochemical and refining pipeline continues to build against a US Gulf Coast operating footprint. America First Refining continues to advance a 300 billion dollar greenfield oil refinery at the Port of Brownsville Texas, the first new US refinery built from scratch since 1976. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026. Shintech continues advancing PEP-2, a 500,000 metric ton per year ethane cracker in Plaquemine Louisiana, along with the parallel VCM-4 vinyl chloride monomer facility, targeting operations in the fall to winter 2027 window. ChevronPhillips Chemical and QatarEnergy remain on schedule for 2026 operations at the Golden Triangle Polymers 2.08 million metric ton per year ethane cracker and two 1 million metric ton per year HDPE units in Orange Texas. Phillips 66 continues to guide refineries to run in the mid 90 percent range of combined capacity in the third quarter of 2026.

Deloitte Projects 499,000 Net New Workers Required in 2026 and a Potential 2 Million Skilled Craft Shortage by 2028, Turner and Townsend Finds 70 Percent of Global Markets Have Tightening or Overstretched Data Center Contractor Capacity, and BloombergNEF Warns the Texas ERCOT Audit Could Delay 20 Percent of the US Data Center Pipeline

The workforce reality got sharper this week. Deloitte's 2026 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook projects the E and C industry will need 499,000 net new workers in 2026, up from 439,000 in 2025. If the labor gap persists, Deloitte estimates the industry could lose nearly 124 billion dollars in construction output due to unfilled positions. Structural factors continue to limit labor supply. By 2031, 41 percent of construction workers are expected to retire, while only 10 percent of the current workforce is under age 25. Interest in construction careers remains tepid, with only 7 percent of potential job seekers considering the field. Deloitte projects a potential shortage of over 2 million skilled craft professionals by 2028 if current trends persist. Construction wages have already climbed to 40.97 dollars per hour on average as of April 2026, per BLS data referenced by NAHB, and construction wage growth is now outpacing the broader economy.

Turner and Townsend's global construction market intelligence report, based on data from 112 markets across 44 countries, reinforced the picture. Data centers remain the most in demand construction sector globally. More than 70 percent of the markets reported that contractor capacity for data center projects was either tightening or already overstretched. Labor availability has now surpassed broad material inflation as the primary driver of construction cost increases. Globally, around 78 percent of markets reported labor shortages, with pressure concentrated in specialist trades linked to electrical systems, digital infrastructure, and mechanical engineering. Longer recruitment periods, higher wages, and reduced subcontractor appetite for bids are all showing up in the field.

ABC's own updated 2026 model continues to project 349,000 net new construction workers needed in 2026, rising to 456,000 in 2027, with the majority of that 2026 requirement now attributable to retirement rather than growth. AGC's 2025 Workforce Survey continues to show 92 percent of firms report difficulty hiring, 88 percent of firms hiring craft workers report unfilled openings, 80 percent of firms hiring salaried workers report unfilled positions, and 45 percent of surveyed contractors report worker shortages as the leading cause of project delays.

Overlay the workforce reality with BloombergNEF's August 7 warning that the Texas data center pause could put 20 percent of the US data center pipeline at risk of delay if the moratorium extends, and the picture becomes very clear. The American industrial buildout is not going to be limited by capital availability or by announced project pipeline. It is going to be limited by fabrication capacity, workforce depth, and the ability to execute at gigawatt scale without the schedule slippage that shortage economics inflicts on the sector.

The Bottom Line

This week reset the ceiling on what a single American industrial project can commit. The OpenAI Nvidia SB Energy Ohio deal at 8 gigawatts, 105 billion dollars of Nvidia credit support, 10 gigawatts of new power generation, 4.2 billion dollars of new grid, and 35,000 construction jobs through 2032 is now the reference point for the scale that this industrial cycle can be sanctioned at. JLL confirmed the market is absorbing capacity at 25 gigawatts in a single half, 95 percent pre committed, 1 percent vacancy for the third consecutive year. Devon Energy, Coastal Bend LNG, Bay Runner Twin, Aspen Katy Hub, and Delfin FLNG2 all continue to build the LNG and midstream pipeline behind the export terminals. ENEOS Holdings continues to consolidate petrochemical operations on the US Gulf Coast. And Deloitte, Turner and Townsend, ABC, and AGC together confirmed that fabrication capacity and workforce depth are now the binding constraint on execution, not capital or announced project pipeline.

Owners and EPC contractors that once wrote scope out to fifteen or twenty subcontractors are now consolidating that scope with vertically integrated fabricators that can absorb structural steel, process modules, modular skids, field installation and construction, shutdowns and turnarounds, and backlog relief inside a single execution model. PSV Industries is built for that operating environment. And the buildout confirmed this week is what the next decade of American industrial construction is going to look like.