Sam Altman Explores Space Ambitions Beyond OpenAI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ventured into a domain well beyond the AI competition, embarking on an ambitious initiative to enter the realm of rockets and space. A report indicates that Altman considered the possibility of raising funds to acquire or collaborate with a rocket company, a move that would have positioned him in closer competition with Elon Musk, whose SpaceX leads the launch market and whose AI venture xAI competes with OpenAI. As stated in the report, Altman reached out to Stoke Space, an up-and-coming rocket company, during the summer of 2025, with conversations intensifying later in the year. One proposal under consideration involved OpenAI making a series of investments that would ultimately lead to a controlling stake. The total investment required could have reportedly reached billions over time. The dialogue seems to have lost momentum and is currently inactive, as per reports. Altman’s relationship with Stoke dates back to his time leading Y Combinator, the accelerator that invested in the company. Stoke was established by former engineers from Blue Origin and is in the process of developing a fully reusable rocket named Nova, a pursuit that SpaceX is similarly aiming for. These discussions are said to have occurred during a time when global enthusiasm for AI, along with the financial investments in it, reached its zenith.
Sam Altman has expressed a keen interest in the concept of positioning data centres in orbit. His reasoning is that the power required for future AI systems will be enormous, and at some point, Earth’s environmental constraints could make space the more viable option. He believes that solar power in orbit could enable next-generation compute infrastructure. “I think much of the world will eventually be covered in data centres,” he said in a recent podcast conversation with Theo Von, as per reports. Other tech companies are investigating comparable avenues. Google and Planet Labs are collaborating to deploy two satellites equipped with Google AI chips in 2027. Prominent figures like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sundar Pichai have advocated for the concept of AI computing clusters in space.
During the months of September and October, Altman secured a series of partnerships in the chip and data-centre sectors with Oracle, Nvidia, AMD, and other notable companies. OpenAI has dedicated nearly $600 billion to computing infrastructure in recent months, significantly exceeding its anticipated $13 billion in revenue for this year. This substantial expenditure has prompted inquiries regarding funding, particularly as competition from Anthropic escalates swiftly. Altman also oversees an extensive investment portfolio that reportedly includes over 400 companies, as noted in a report. Although he engages in fewer personal investments at present, he often utilizes OpenAI’s resources for substantial projects. One example is his commitment of $18 billion from OpenAI to fund Stargate, a new data-centre venture backed by SoftBank.
The competition extends beyond just rockets. Altman has recently unveiled Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface venture that stands in direct competition with Musk’s Neuralink. Meanwhile, OpenAI is in the process of developing a new social network that has the potential to rival Musk’s platform, X.
