Sam Altman’s decision to step down as chairman of nuclear energy startup Oklo could set the OpenAI CEO up to maximize his potential to profit from both companies.
Altman resigned from the Oklo board on Tuesday, the company said in an SEC filing. The move, which the company said was not due to any disagreement or violation of its policy, paves the way for Oklo to one day enter into an agreement with OpenAI to power its AI technology. Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte will take over for Altman as chairman of the board, the company said.
With Altman off the Oklo board, OpenAI now has more range to pursue a power deal with the company. An early investor in Oklo, Altman still owns a 4.8% stake. While he doesn’t own equity in OpenAI now, that could change in the future, especially as the company looks to transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit corporate structure.
If Altman gains equity in OpenAI and maintains his shares in Oklo, and the companies one day do a deal together, it could be a financial boon for the tech mogul.
“That seems to be where this is moving,” said Bruce Kogut, the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia Business School.
If OpenAI makes a deal to power a data center with one of Oklo’s nuclear reactors, Kogut said, “payments will be made to Oklo and returned to shareholders, which will include him.”
“With Altman’s departure, it may make it easier for Oklo and OpenAI to partner without added complexities posed by his role on the Board,” an Oklo spokesperson said.
OpenAI is ramping up its data center business as it relies less on Microsoft, a major investor that, until recently, had served as its sole cloud provider. The company, now valued at $300 billion, has teamed up with Oracle and SoftBank, known as Stargate, to build AI data centers in the US. The first site is under construction in Abilene, Texas.
Oklo has signed agreements with major data center customers such as Equinix and Switch. However, the company’s nuclear reactor has not been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company is in the planning stages of filing a second application for federal licensing after the NRC rejected its first in 2022.
This time around, it will at least have a friendly face nearby in Washington, DC. Chris Wright, who earlier this year was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Energy, previously sat on the Oklo board.
In the meantime, investors maintain enthusiasm for Oklo’s potential to capitalize on the “massive push for nuclear energy solutions across the federal and commercial landscapes with the AI revolution accelerating and in the early stages,” as Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said last month.
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