OpenAI in talks to buy fusion power from Sam Altman-backed Helion
Mar 23rd 2026 ยท United States
Altman leaves his Helion board chair role as Helion and OpenAI hold early talks that could secure OpenAI a large share of future fusion output, while Helion pursues rapid scale up and commercial milestones.
- Sam Altman has stepped down as Helion board chair as the companies explore a potential partnership.
- Reported talks could give OpenAI 12.5% of Helion output, equal to 5 gigawatts by 2030 and 50 gigawatts by 2035.
- Those figures imply Helion aims for about 40 GW total by 2030 and 400 GW by 2035, requiring roughly 800 reactors by 2030 and 8,000 by 2035 at 50 MW each.
- Microsoft already signed a power purchase deal with Helion in 2023 to begin deliveries in 2028.
- Helion uses a magnet-based reactor design to convert fusion energy directly to electricity and its Polaris prototype reached 150 million degrees Celsius toward a 200 million target.