OpenAI’s Sam Altman is stepping down as chair of the board of nuclear startup Oklo, after bringing the company public through a merger with his special purpose acquisition company, AltC Acquisition Corp., in May 2024.
The move gives Oklo, which is developing advanced nuclear reactors, more flexibility to potentially explore partnerships with OpenAI or other hyperscalers amid data center companies’ push to secure power.
“We are excited to continue working with him [Sam Altman] to bring scalable, clean energy to the AI sector and beyond, and to continue to explore strategic partnerships with leading AI companies, including potentially with OpenAI,” Caroline Cochran, Oklo’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
“As Oklo explores strategic partnerships to deploy clean energy at scale, particularly to enable the deployment of AI, I believe now is the right time for me to step down,” said Altman.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is seen through glass, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, France, on Feb. 11, 2025.
Aurelien Morissard | Via Reuters
Oklo shares fell 12% in extended trading after the announcement.
In December, Oklo signed an agreement to provide up to 12 gigawatts of power for data center company Switch. But to date, Oklo has not signed an agreement with one of the hyperscalers, despite the tech industry’s interest in baseload, emissions-free power.
Oklo says its reactors, called Aurora, have smaller and simpler designs that will range from 75 megawatts to as much as 100 megawatts or more. The company plans to build and operate the plants, directly selling power to customers under long-term contracts.
Oklo plans to launch its first reactor at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls before the end of the decade.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
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