March 23 (Reuters) - OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman

said on Monday he has stepped down from the board of directors

of Helion Energy, the fusion startup he has backed since 2015,

as the companies start to explore working together "at

significant scale".

Altman, who is also on the OpenAI board, said the dual roles

had become untenable as the ChatGPT maker eyes future

partnerships with Helion. In a post on social media platform X,

Altman added that he will have a financial interest in Helion

and will recuse himself from any deal negotiations.

"Sam has played an integral role in Helion's development...

I look forward to working with (Altman) in this new capacity,"

Helion CEO David Kirtley said in an X post separately.

OpenAI is also in advanced talks to buy electricity from

Helion Energy, Axios reported on Monday, citing a person

familiar with the situation.

Under the terms being discussed, OpenAI could secure a

guaranteed portion of Helion's production, initially 12.5%, with

talks centering on OpenAI receiving the equivalent of 5

gigawatts by 2030, scaling to 50 gigawatts by 2035, the report

added.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters request for

comment on the Axios report. A spokesperson for Helion said:

"beyond the previously announced deals with Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Nucor,

Helion has not made any new customer announcements."

A potential deal underscores a broader race among the

world's largest technology companies to lock in long-term energy

supplies as the explosive growth of artificial intelligence

strains power grids.

Microsoft ( MSFT ), Google, and Amazon ( AMZN )

have all struck deals with nuclear and fusion companies that

would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago.

Helion was founded in 2013 by Kirtley, along with John

Slough, Chris Pihl, and George Votroubek. It has raised over $1

billion in total funding, with a $425 million Series F closed in

January 2025 that valued the company at $5.4 billion.