The relationship between the OpenAI cofounders, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, has devolved into X sparring and legal battles. As the conversation surrounding data center shifts to space, a new report specifies that Altman attempted to acquire a rocket company to compete with Musk’s SpaceX.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Altman explored acquiring or partnering with rocket startup Stoke Space. This move would’ve put him in direct competition with SpaceX, only suggesting the rivalry between the two billionaires has no limits.
Those familiar with the Altman-Stoke Space talks said those discussions to invest billions and take a controlling stake were over the summer and have since ended.
WSJ’s report comes days after OpenAI declared “code red,” telling employees that ChatGPT needs significant improvement in user experience, including personalization, speed, reliability, and the ability to answer a broader range of questions.
In the companywide memo, Altman also said that OpenAI would be pushing back work on other initiatives, including advertising, AI agents for health and shopping, and a personal assistant called Pulse.
A separate report from Financial Times showed that OpenAI rivals from Google and Anthropic are quickly catching up in terms of features and popularity…
Altman’s space ambitions come as Musk recently laid out his vision of humanoid robots, as well as AI data centers in low Earth orbit.
The lowest cost place for data centers is space when 300 GW of computer data center you can power and cool in space when you have continuous solar and no batteries needed. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/J5EMJt8rRw
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) November 19, 2025
Jeff Bezos has also recognized the need for data centers in space. Also, Bezos has the rocket company Blue Origin
Jeff Bezos plans to build a data center in space within the next 10+ years.
Unlimited solar energy available 24/7, space is an ideal location for data centers.$AMZN AWS is set to make major moves out there. pic.twitter.com/KJCEO973eQ
— Bourbon Capital (@BourbonCap) October 3, 2025
Given the “code red” memo Altman sent to staff earlier this week, perhaps the ChatGPT billionaire should focus on achieving AGI and keeping the AI bubble alive (read report) into next year, rather than overextending, and let Musk and Bezos figure out data centers in space with their rocket companies doing the heavy lifting.
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