OpenAI CEO Sam Altman<\/a> is aiming to build or buy a rocket company in a move which would pitch him into closer competition with Elon Musk<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, Altman has already explored whether he may be able to acquire or partner with an existing rocket maker, with a view to installing power-hungry data centres in orbit around the Earth.<\/p>\n Altman approached at least one launch startup \u2013 Stoke Space \u2013 over the summer, with talks of working together intensifying in the fall, the report said. <\/p>\n Proposals included a multibillion\u2011dollar equity investment that could have led to giving OpenAI a controlling stake in the firm. <\/p>\n However, those discussions have since stalled, according to people close to the company.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n The OpenAI CEO is said to have an eye on the stars (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Altman\u2019s relationship with Musk has previously driven increased competition between the two tech moguls. Once they were colleagues, co-founding OpenAI in 2015. But after divisions over how to run the company and secure funding, Musk left in 2018. <\/p>\n OpenAI launched Chat GPT in 2022, making the company and Altman himself, a household name. A year later Musk accused OpenAI and Microsoft of monopolising the market in generative AI. <\/p>\n While the pair have traded barbs in public, the clash appeared to have spurred Musk to compete <\/a>in the AI space, launching xAI and the chatbot Grok. <\/p>\n Despite being far behind Musk\u2019s leading Space X company, Altman\u2019s interest in developing space-based technology appears to be a long-held concern.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Musk is well ahead in the space race (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n Annual demand for data centres is forecast to rise between 19 and 22 per cent by 2030<\/a>, according to global management consultants McKinsey.<\/p>\n \u201cShould I build a rocket company?\u201d Altman asked on a podcast with his brother in June this year. <\/p>\n \u201cI hope that eventually humanity is consuming way more energy than we could ever be generating on Earth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This week Altman had concerns closer to home. He declared a \u201ccode red\u201d situation at OpenAI due to concerns it wasn\u2019t responding fast enough to increased competition from rivals such as Google Gemini<\/a>.<\/p>\n Google<\/a> released the latest version of its AI model last month, with Gemini 3 surpassing ChatGPT in a range of benchmark tests.<\/p>\n Google said Gemini now represented a \u201cnew era of intelligence\u201d after it set a new record score on Humanity\u2019s Last Exam<\/a> \u2013 a test created by AI safety researchers to identify artificial superintelligence.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2218344194.jpg\")
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