Helion-OpenAI talks could deliver 50 GW of fusion by 2035
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- OpenAI is in early talks to purchase 12.5% of Helion's output — 5 GW by 2030 and 50 GW by 2035 — in a deal first reported by Axios.
- Sam Altman is stepping down as chair of Helion's board after more than ten years; Helion CEO David Kirtley said the move enables the two companies to "partner on future opportunities."
- Helion declined to confirm talks with OpenAI, telling TechCrunch it has not announced new customer agreements beyond its existing deals with Microsoft and Nucor.
- Microsoft signed a comparable power-purchase agreement with Helion in 2023, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2028.
- The scale-up challenge is steep: meeting the reported OpenAI figures would require roughly 800 of Helion's 50 MW reactors by 2030 and an additional 7,200 by 2035.
- Altman pulled a similar move with small modular reactor startup Oklo last year, stepping down as board chair so the company could explore partnerships with AI firms including potentially OpenAI.
Why it matters: Fulfilling the reported OpenAI figures would require Helion to deploy roughly 8,000 reactors by 2035 — an unprecedented buildout for a company still testing its Polaris prototype, which has only just hit 150 million degrees Celsius. OpenAI would lock in a dedicated zero-carbon supply line covering 12.5% of that output, while Helion simultaneously owes Microsoft power starting in 2028. The deal's credibility hinges on a technology that has never operated at commercial scale.
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