Sam Altman accused Elon Musk on Saturday of wooing public market investors with unproven claims about space data centers, ramping up a feud that erupted after Apple (AAPL) sued OpenAI (OPEAZZX) for alleged trade secret theft.
Altman’s remark on X was a reference to SpaceX’s AI1 (SPCX) satellite program, which combines SpaceX and xAI to build orbital compute nodes capable of delivering up to 150 kW of peak payload power. Altman has already shot down the space-datacenter thesis, telling the TBPN podcast in February that space-based compute would not give OpenAI any meaningful capacity within two, five, or even 10 years.
Musk has said the satellites would begin flying next year. "We start flying them next year," wrote Musk on X, pointing to Altman’s legal issues and accusing him of “stealing an open source AI charity” and "all of Apple's phone technology."
Lawsuits Against OpenAI
The public spat followed a accusing it of stealing trade secrets after the iPhone maker alleged two former staff members took proprietary data with them before joining OpenAI. Musk, who has previously accused OpenAI of misusing proprietary data, used the Apple suit to renew his attacks on Altman.
Altman’s SpaceX remarks came as the company’s stock traded well off its post-IPO peak. closed at $145.30 on Friday, roughly 36% below its post-IPO high of $225.64 reached in mid-June, and near its 52-week low of $145.07 set earlier in the week. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around SPCX remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter stayed at ‘extremely low’ levels over the past day.
The stock's float remains low post-IPO, with insider lockups expiring later this year, a dynamic that could add additional supply pressure. This was further highlighted by critics such as Mark Yusko, managing director of Morgan Creek Capital, who
SpaceX entered the index with about 4% of the shares floated, said Yusko. He added that the deal was a strategy for Musk and early investors to obtain liquidity for an exit from retail investors.
OpenAI filed its IPO on June 8, but no official listing date or share prices have been confirmed.