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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman continues to aggressively invest in clean energy tech in the hopes it one day meets AI's ravenous power appetite.

Why it matters: Altman's taste for clean energy deals appears to be focused on finding the best way to power AI.

Driving the news: Today, Altman joined a $425 million round for fusion startup Helion, his latest commitment to the fusion firm as it tries to commercialize its tech.

Altman told Businessweek earlier this month that he expects that "Helion will show you that fusion will work soon."

In 2021, Altman led the company's $500 million Series E round with a $375 million personal investment, his largest at the time. He also became Helion's executive chairman.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Helion is in talks to sell electricity to OpenAI.

Zoom out: Helion's fusion tech is just one of Altman's investments in clean energy breakthroughs.

He remains a major shareholder in and chairman of the board of Oklo, a small modular nuclear company that is doing deals with data center companies like Switch. According to the latest public filing in November, he owns close to 10 million shares, worth around $300 million.

Oklo went public in 2023 via a SPAC by merging with AltC Acquisition Corp, a company co-founded by Altman.

Altman also joined a $20 million round for solar and storage startup Exowatt, co-founded by friend and investor Jack Abraham.

The intrigue: Altman's clean energy investments rival the scale and impact of most climate tech VC funds.

His investments are also highly risky. Neither fusion nor SMRs are yet commercial.

The big picture: Altman told CNBC in 2023 his vision involves making "AI systems more and more powerful for less and less money."

He said at Davos last year that the future of AI depends on clean energy breakthroughs: "There's no way to get there without a breakthrough. We need fusion or we need like radically cheaper solar plus storage or something at massive scale."

In the U.S., an additional 55 GW of data center capacity is expected to come online in the next five years.

Meanwhile, last week a group announced a $500 billion plan to build out OpenAI's data centers including a massive campus in Texas.

Reality check: Many AI data centers will be powered with natural gas in the short term while next-gen energy tech is developed.

Sam Altman keeps shaping the AI clean energy vision

The OpenAI founder puts his money on AI power.

Photo Illustration of Sam Altman with the openai logo

Photo Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman continues to aggressively invest in clean energy tech in the hopes it one day meets AI&#x27;s ravenous power appetite.Why it matters: Altman&#x27;s taste for clean energy deals appears to be focused on finding the best way to power AI.

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Sam Altman keeps shaping the AI clean energy vision

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