The man behind ChatGPT has bet hundreds of millions of dollars that nuclear fusion will work — and Microsoft has already purchased energy from a reactor that does not yet exist.

Written by Douglas Avila

Published on 18/04/2026 at 21:40

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Sam Altman invested hundreds of millions in Helion Energy, OpenAI is negotiating to buy 12.5% of all the energy the company produces, and Microsoft has already signed a contract to receive 50 MW from a reactor that has not yet generated a single watt — the boldest bet in the history of nuclear fusion

The man who created ChatGPT has a problem.

The data centers that power artificial intelligence consume absurd amounts of energy.

And Sam Altman believes there is only one long-term solution: nuclear fusion.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

The numbers that scare

US$ 375 million: personal investment by Sam Altman in Helion
US$ 500 million: Series E round in 2021, led by Altman
US$ 612 million: total raised in venture capital
US$ 425 million: additional round in January 2025
US$ 1.8 billion: promise of funding conditioned on technical milestones
12.5%: share of production that OpenAI wants to secure
5 GW by 2030 and 50 GW by 2035: Helion’s projections

Microsoft has already bought energy that does not exist

In May 2023, Microsoft signed a historic agreement with Helion.

Bill Gates’ company will receive up to 50 megawatts of clean energy from Helion.

The delivery is scheduled for 2028.

The contract includes financial penalties if Helion fails to meet the timeline.

It is the first PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) in history for nuclear fusion energy.

Helion Energy laboratory with fusion reactor prototype — Helion has already received US$ 612 million in venture capital and a promise of an additional US$ 1.8 billion conditioned on meeting technical milestones

OpenAI wants 12.5% of all production

In March 2026, Axios revealed that OpenAI is in advanced negotiations to buy 12.5% of all the energy that Helion produces.

This means that if Helion reaches 5 GW by 2030, OpenAI would have 625 MW guaranteed — enough energy to power hundreds of thousands of GPUs training AI models.

Altman recently stepped down as chairman of Helion’s board and distanced himself from the negotiations to avoid a conflict of interest.

What Altman said in Davos

At the World Economic Forum, Altman stated: “There is no way to get there without a breakthrough. We need fusion or we need radically cheaper solar energy with more storage or something at that massive level.”

For him, AI requires an energy revolution — and fusion is the bet.

Google bet on the competitor

While Altman bets on Helion, Google has made deals with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, including a contract for 200 megawatts of energy.

Additionally, investors such as SoftBank, Mithril Capital (from Peter Thiel), and Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook) are also betting on Helion.

Compact nuclear fusion reactor with bright plasma — Helion is close to scientific breakeven — the point at which fusion produces more energy than it consumes, a milestone that no private company has achieved

Important caveats

No private company has achieved “scientific breakeven” — the milestone at which fusion produces more energy than it consumes.

Discussions with OpenAI are in preliminary stages, with conditions still to be met.

Helion is optimistic, but commercial nuclear fusion technology has never been realized by any entity in the world.

Moreover, the Stargate Project (Microsoft-OpenAI) that would consume this energy has a projected cost of up to US$ 100 billion.

Still, when the CEO of the world’s most valuable AI company invests hundreds of millions of his own money in nuclear fusion, the market pays attention.

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The man behind ChatGPT has bet hundreds of millions of dollars that nuclear fusion will work — and Microsoft has already purchased energy from a reactor that does not yet exist.

The numbers that scare

Microsoft has already bought energy that does not exist

OpenAI wants 12.5% of all production

What Altman said in Davos

Google bet on the competitor

Important caveats

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The man behind ChatGPT has bet hundreds of millions of dollars that nuclear fusion will work — and Microsoft has already purchased energy from a reactor that does not yet exist.

The numbers that scare

Microsoft has already bought energy that does not exist

OpenAI wants 12.5% of all production

What Altman said in Davos

Google bet on the competitor

Important caveats

While in Brazil a 10-story building takes 2 years to complete, in China a company stacks pre-fabricated modules and raises the entire building in just 28 hours and 45 minutes.

The oldest tree in the world, alive since before the birth of Jesus Christ, is cut down in a scientific study and the case changes environmental preservation rules.

An entire island in the Pacific wants to surround itself with a colossal barrier against the ocean to try to escape increasingly violent waves and not be swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

After ten days orbiting the Moon, science confirms that the astronauts of the Artemis II mission return with altered bodies.

In the Saudi Arabian desert, the world’s largest green hydrogen plant is 80% complete and will use 4 gigawatts of solar and wind energy to produce 600 tons of clean fuel per day when it opens in 2027.

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A producer from Santa Catarina started with a poultry farm of just 7,500 birds in 1994 and three decades later manages 21 farms thanks to a simple strategy he learned early on.

Your phone has dozens of hidden antennas working at the same time, and you never noticed because modern engineering has managed to conceal them within the metal structure of the device.

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