penAI is eyeing solutions to AI’s energy problem.
The company is reportedly in talks to buy electricity from Helion, a fusion energy startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to Axios. The company aims to secure a percentage of Helion’s production, starting at around 12.5%, aiming to harvest the equivalent of 5 gigawatts by 2030 and as many as 50 gigawatts by 2035.
Additionally, Altman, who holds a large stake in Helion and has invested in the company since 2021, has stepped down from the board of the company and recused himself from deal discussions.
It’s no secret that AI poses the risk of a massive energy shortfall. According to Morgan Stanley analysts, AI’s appetite for power could leave the US with a shortfall of up to 13 gigawatts of power by 2028. With the skyrocketing demand, several major AI companies even signed a pledge with the U.S. government, called the “ratepayer protection pledge,” requiring them to bear the costs of new electricity generation to power their data centers.
And OpenAI isn’t the only company seeking fixes to AI’s energy issue. Google has similarly bet on fusion energy, signing a deal in June with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a rival of Helion, to buy 200 megawatts of power. Google and xAI are also betting on moving computing entirely off-planet, each driving its own initiatives for “orbital data centers” to harness solar energy.
However, OpenAI’s quest for power also follows the company narrowing its expectations on compute spend in late February, now anticipating spending $600 billion on infrastructure commitments by 2030, rather than the much-reported $1.4 trillion that raised so many eyebrows in 2025.
Our Deeper View
By resetting its expectations and shoring up its energy reserves, OpenAI is narrowing the gap between what it has and what it wants, which is particularly vital now that AI firms are under pressure to develop their own power supplies. Though a lot of hype has built up around its data center plans, tempering its spending outlook could give it the opportunity to turn a profit sooner rather than later. Funding new energy solutions, meanwhile, has two benefits: it allows it to meet its much-needed power supply and, out of necessity, could also fuel clean energy development.