OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is stepping down as board chair of the Helion — the fusion startup he backs — amid reported talks between the two companies.

The deal, which was reported by Axios, is in early stages, and it could guarantee OpenAI 12.5% of Helion’s production — five gigawatts by 2030 and 50 gigawatts by 2035. OpenAI partner Microsoft signed a similar deal with Helion in 2023 to buy power starting in 2028.

If the figures in Axios’ report prove to be accurate, it suggests that Helion expects to be able to rapidly scale production of its fusion power plant. The startup has said that each of its reactors will generate 50 megawatts of electricity, meaning it will need to build and install 800 reactors by 2030 and an additional 7,200 by 2035. 

Helion wouldn’t confirm if talks with OpenAI were underway. A spokesman told TechCrunch the company has not announced any new customer agreements beyond those it already has with Microsoft and Nucor. However, the company did confirm to TechCrunch that Altman is leaving the board chair of Helion, suggesting that the two companies may eventually work together.

“Sam is stepping down from Helion’s Board of Directors after more than a decade. This decision enables Helion and OpenAI to partner on future opportunities to bring zero-carbon, safe electricity to the world,” David Kirtley, co-founder and CEO of the company, told TechCrunch in statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with him in this new capacity.”

Helion is racing to build its first commercial-scale reactor by that time. If the startup is successful, it would place it years ahead of the competition, which is mostly targeting early 2030s for commercial operations. 

The startup raised $425 million last year from investors, including Altman as well as firms Mithril, Lightspeed, and SoftBank.

Most fusion startups are pursuing one of two approaches — harvesting heat from the fusion reactions and using a steam turbine to turn it into electricity. Helion is taking a different tack, developing a reactor design that would use magnets to convert fusion energy into electricity.

Inside the hourglass-shaped reactor, fusion fuel is first turned into plasma at either end and then shot toward each other using magnetic fields. When they collide in the middle, another set of magnets compresses the merged plasma ball until fusion occurs. The reaction pushes back on the magnets, which can convert that energy directly into electricity.

Helion is currently operating its Polaris prototype in advance of its push to commercial power. In February, the company generated plasmas inside the reactor that hit 150 million degrees Celsius, almost to the 200 million degrees Celsius the company thinks will be required for commercial operations.

Though Altman has stepped down from his position as chair of Helion’s board and reportedly recused himself from the discussions, his fingerprints are all over the matchmaking. 

Last year, Altman stepped down as board chair of Oklo, a small modular nuclear reactor startup that had merged with his acquisition company, AltC. The move was intended to allow Oklo 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 given to CNBC at the time.

Update 1:30 pm ET: Added confirmation from Helion regarding Altman stepping down as board chair.

Iranian government hackers are using Telegram as a way to steal data from hacked dissidents, opposition groups, and journalists who oppose the regime around the world, according to an FBI alert published on Friday.  

In the first stage of the attack, the hackers contact their targets and pretend to be a known contact or tech support, and are tricked into accepting a link to a malicious file masquerading as legitimate apps, such as Telegram and WhatsApp. Once the target installs the malware, the second stage of the attack connects the infected victim with Telegram bots that allow the hackers to remotely command and control the victim’s computer. This allows the hackers to gain remote control of victims’ devices to steal files, take screenshots, and record Zoom calls, according to the FBI. 

Using Telegram as a way to remotely control a victim’s device is a common technique by hackers to hide malicious activity among legitimate network traffic, which makes it harder for cybersecurity defenders and anti-malware products to identify.

According to the FBI, the hackers responsible for these attacks are allegedly working for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The FBI said these attacks are an example of Iranian government hackers’ attempts to push the regime’s “geopolitical agenda.”

In the alert, the FBI mentioned the pro-Iranian and pro-Palestinian fake hacktivist group Handala, although it’s not clear if the attacks referenced in the alert were carried out by this group. 

Earlier this month, Handala claimed responsibility for an attack on medical tech giant Stryker, which resulted in wiping tens of thousands of employee devices.

In an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Stryker said it is still recovering from the hack.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department accused Handala of being a front for Iran’s government, specifically the MOIS, and for being behind the Stryker hack. At the same time, the FBI took down and seized two websites linked to Handala, and two other sites linked to another Iranian hacktivist group called “Homeland Justice.” In the recent FBI alert, the bureau said the two groups are linked and controlled by the MOIS. 

An FBI spokesperson said in an email that the bureau “has nothing additional to add.”

Telegram’s spokesperson Remi Vaughn said that the platform’s “moderators routinely remove any accounts found to be involved with malware.”

Updated to include the FBI’s and Telegram’s response.

Anthropic is attracting an increasing number of supporters in its fight against the U.S. Department of Defense, which last month designated the AI lab as a supply-chain risk after it refused to make concessions on how its AI could be used by the military.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) equated the DOD’s decision with “retaliation,” arguing that the Pentagon could simply have terminated its contract with the AI lab, CNBC reports.

“I am particularly concerned that the DoD is trying to strong-arm American companies into providing the Department with the tools to spy on American citizens and deploy fully autonomous weapons without adequate safeguards,” Warren wrote, per the report, adding that the barring of Anthropic “appears to be retaliation.”

Warren’s words echo many other organizations that have spoken out against the Defense Department’s treatment of Anthropic. Several tech companies and employees — including from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft — as well as legal rights groups, have filed amicus briefs in support of Anthropic and denouncing the designation, which is usually applied to foreign adversaries and not U.S. firms. 

The dispute arose after Anthropic told the Pentagon that it did not want its AI systems to be used for mass surveillance of Americans and that the technology wasn’t ready for use in targeting or firing decisions of lethal autonomous weapons without human intervention. The Pentagon contested that a private company shouldn’t dictate how the military uses technology, and soon after designated the company as a “supply-chain risk.” The label requires any company or agency that does work with the Pentagon to certify that it doesn’t use the designated company’s products or services — effectively barring Anthropic from working with any company that also works with the U.S. government.

The letter from Warren comes a day before a hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday, when District Judge Rita Lin will decide whether to grant Anthropic a preliminary injunction that seeks to preserve the status quo while its case against the DOD is litigated.

While Anthropic is suing the DOD for infringing on its First Amendment rights and for punishing the company based on ideological grounds, the Defense Department has maintained that Anthropic’s refusal to allow all lawful military uses of its technology was a business decision, not protected speech, and that the designation was a straightforward national security call and not punishment for the company’s views.

The AI lab last week submitted two declarations to the court that claim the government’s logic is flawed as they depend on technical misunderstandings as well as points of concern that were not raised during the company’s negotiations with the DOD.

Warren has also written to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, asking for details of the company’s agreement with the DOD, which came just a day after the Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic.

Anthropic and the Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.