OpenAI CEO Sam Altman explores buying rocket company for AI centers

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is looking to build, finance or buy a rocket company to compete in the space race against an old rival. Elon Muskaccording to reports.

The Wall Street Journal It was reported Thursday that Altman was exploring a purchase or partnership with an existing rocket launch provider with financing.

The report indicated that Altman’s goal is to support space data centers to operate the next generation of artificial intelligence systems.

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Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI Inc., during the AI ​​Action Summit in Paris on February 11, 2025. (Nathan Lin/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

The outlet also claimed that Altman has already reached out to at least one missile maker, Washington-based Stock Spaceover the summer, with discussions gaining momentum in the fall.

Among the proposals was a series of multi-billion-dollar equity investments from OpenAI, which could have ultimately given the company a controlling stake in Stoke.

Those talks have since calmed down, he said Sources close to OpenAIThe report noted.

Altman’s meteoric rise comes as his company faces scrutiny over its aggressive expansion plans, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at the Summit Building of the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle on May 21, 2024. (Jason Redmond/Getty Images/Getty Images)

OpenAI has signed new multibillion-dollar commitments although it has offered little clarity on how a major buildout will be funded.

Earlier this week, Altman announced a company-wide “code red” next ChatGPT is starting to lose steam to Google’s Gemini chatbot, prompting OpenAI to delay other launches and require employees to change teams to focus on improving its main product.

For Altman, Interest in missiles It is consistent with the idea that AI’s demand for energy will push computing infrastructure off-world.

He has been an advocate of space-based data centers to harness solar energy in space while avoiding environmental difficulties on Earth.

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Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attend the inauguration of Donald J. Trump at the US Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC (Julia Demaree Nickinson/Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images)

musk, Jeff Bezos Google’s Sundar Pichai shared similar thoughts.

Stoke Space, founded by former Blue Origin engineers, is developing a fully reusable rocket called Nova, which reports say is the same thing SpaceX wants to achieve.

The Wall Street Journal noted that the proposed partnership would have given Altman a major shortcut in the space launch sector.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Sean Gallup/Andrew Harnick/Getty Images/Getty Images)

Altman talks highlights Constant competition Between him and Musk. The duo co-founded OpenAI in 2015, then disagreed over the company’s direction, and Musk left after three years.

Musk has since launched his own artificial intelligence company, xAI, while Altman has expanded his OpenAI ambitions and recently backed projects that directly compete with Musk’s projects, including a brain-computer interface startup.

Altman hinted at his aviation ambitions earlier this year.

“I think a lot of the world is being covered by data centers over time,” Altman recently told Theo Vaughn. “For example, we might build a big Dyson sphere around the solar system and say, ‘Hey, it doesn’t actually make sense to put this stuff on Earth.'”

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Then in June he asked: “Should I build a rocket company?” Before adding: “I hope that humanity will eventually consume much more energy than we can generate on Earth.”

FOX Business has reached out to OpenAI for comment.