The AI war spreads to space... Sam Altman and Elon Musk's "next-generation battlefield"

The fact that OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company led by CEO Sam Altman, is advancing cooperation with a rocket company has come to light, and the conflict pattern between Altman and his rival Elon Musk is showing signs of expanding across the entire tech industry.

On December 3 (local time), The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Altman had recently explored the possibility of collaborating with the rocket company “Stoke Space” to advance satellite-based computing infrastructure and had planned a multibillion-dollar fundraising scheme for this purpose. Reportedly, OpenAI has actually considered acquiring management rights by making an equity investment in or acquiring Stoke Space.

Stoke Space is a company founded by former engineers of Blue Origin (the space enterprise founded by Jeff Bezos) and is developing technology with the goal of making rockets fully reusable. Analysts believe that Altman’s attempt to partner with this company stems from his long-term vision of building massive data centers necessary for future AI computing outside Earth’s atmosphere, namely, in outer space. Altman recently hinted at this concept in a broadcast, saying, “In the future, data centers will cover the world.”

However, the plan is said to be on hold for now. The reason cited is uncertainty in OpenAI’s cost structure and funding operations. According to The Wall Street Journal, although OpenAI has signed computing contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars, corresponding funding schemes have yet to materialize, causing market concerns. In addition, competitive pressure is mounting from rivals such as Google’s newly launched Gemini 3. As a result, Altman recently declared a “red code” within the company and postponed new product launches to focus on improving ChatGPT’s performance.

Altman’s moves are further intensifying the competitive dynamic with OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk. Musk participated in the founding of OpenAI in 2015 but later withdrew and independently established the AI company xAI in 2023. He now leads multiple tech companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, making him a representative figure who commands both the AI and space industries. Meanwhile, Altman has recently launched the brain-machine interface startup “Merge Labs” and is advancing into the social networking market, resulting in considerable overlap with Musk’s business domains.

The conflict between the two extends beyond business. Musk has filed a lawsuit over OpenAI’s shift from a non-profit ideal to a for-profit corporation. During this process, the two sides have engaged in public confrontation over broken founding promises and breach of contract, further confirming their status as fierce rivals.

This trend suggests that in the future landscape where artificial intelligence and space technology converge, the competition between Altman and Musk may go beyond a simple corporate rivalry to become a symbolic case of conflict among technology, capital, and values. Debates over whose hands should be entrusted with the future of AI are also expected to intensify.