Helion eyes OpenAI deal as Sam Altman exits board chair role

Sam Altman is stepping down as board chair of Helion, a fusion power startup, amid reports that the company is in talks to sell power to OpenAI. According to Axios, which reported the deal, the agreement is in its early stages and could guarantee OpenAI 12.5% of Helion’s future electricity production. Helion is developing fusion power—an energy generation technology—and expects to be able to rapidly scale production of its power plants, though the company would not confirm if talks with OpenAI are currently underway.

To meet its targets, Helion is aiming for the following production milestones:

• Five gigawatts of power production by 2030
• 50 gigawatts of power production by 2035

Achieving these goals will require a massive manufacturing scale-up. Helion has stated that each of its individual reactors will generate 50 megawatts of electricity. Consequently, the startup will need to build and install 800 reactors by 2030, and an additional 7,200 reactors by 2035. While Helion has not announced any new customer agreements beyond its existing contracts with Microsoft and Nucor, its partner Microsoft previously signed a deal in 2023 to buy power starting in 2028.

Helion confirmed Altman is leaving his role as board chair. Helion co-founder and CEO David Kirtley stated: “Sam is stepping down from Helion’s Board of Directors after more than a decade. This decision enables Helion and OpenAI to partner on future opportunities to bring zero-carbon, safe electricity to the world.” The transition mirrors a previous move by Altman, who stepped down as board chair of Oklo, a small modular nuclear reactor startup that merged with his acquisition company AltC. Oklo co-founder Caroline Cochran stated at the time that the move was intended to allow Oklo to explore strategic partnerships with leading AI companies, including potentially with OpenAI.

Helion, which raised $425 million last year from investors including Altman, Mithril, Lightspeed, and SoftBank, is developing a reactor design that uses magnets to convert fusion energy directly into electricity. Inside its Polaris prototype reactor, fuel is turned into plasma—a state of matter—and shot from both ends using magnetic fields. When the plasma balls collide, magnets compress them until fusion occurs, pushing back on the magnetic fields to generate electricity. In February, Helion generated plasmas that reached 150 million degrees Celsius, nearing the 200 million degrees Celsius the company thinks will be required for commercial operations.

Why it matters

The potential partnership underscores the massive energy requirements of AI development, with Altman aligning his fusion investments to potentially power his AI firm’s future infrastructure.