Key Points
It’s not hard to see how Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) could become a millionaire-maker stock. One of the company’s earliest investors was Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI and ChatGPT. Altman served as the chairman of Oklo as recently as 2025, the year he stepped down to avoid any conflict of interest.
What exactly was the conflict of interest? Altman’s AI empire is one of the heaviest data center users in the world. Open AI, the parent company of ChatGPT, is highly reliant on more data centers being built to continue its rapid growth rates.
Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
There’s just one problem: For more data centers to be built, a commensurate amount of new electricity sources will need to come online to power and cool those data centers. This is what got Altman so interested in Oklo’s nuclear technology to begin with. He clearly believed small modular reactors, or SMRs — the specific nuclear technology that Oklo designs and manufactures — could be a meaningful solution to the AI industry’s rapidly rising energy demands.
But Oklo doesn’t want to just sell to OpenAI. It wants to market its technology to AI companies and data center businesses globally. Hence the rationale for Altman stepping down as chairman; he didn’t want Open AI competitors to fear working with Oklo.
How big of an opportunity does Oklo have ahead of it? The figures below show just how much upside Oklo stock truly has.
These statistics show Oklo’s true growth potential
Bank of America analysts agree with Altman that nuclear energy has clear potential to meet the growing energy needs of the AI and data center industries. A recent research report from the bank estimated the global nuclear opportunity to be worth around $10 trillion, with SMR technology — the form factor that Oklo’s plants specialize in — hitting growth inflection points sometime between 2030 and 2035. So while SMR systems don’t comprise the entire $10 trillion opportunity, this technology should play a key role in our energy future.
Image source: Getty Images.
We can bracket these estimates with other market projections. McKinsey & Co., for example, predicts that $7 trillion will be spent over the next few years to build data center infrastructure. Yet again, this suggests Oklo is clearly playing in a field worth several trillion dollars. “Capital is pouring into data center development, but there are real constraints on growth,” McKinsey’s report concludes. “Incumbents can’t meet demand for power.” Oklo’s SMR systems are primed to deliver that power.
The main challenge for Oklo right now isn’t potential customers. The company has a growing sales pipeline that includes several big tech firms with deep budgets. The challenge right now is real-world validation of its technology. The first Oklo plant is expected to come online by 2027 or 2028. But the company still lacks critical regulatory approvals, and we have no idea whether the project will come online on time or on budget.
With a market cap under $20 billion, Oklo shares clearly have 10x potential. But the road ahead will be bumpy, with plenty of risk balancing the stock’s lucrative upside potential.
Should you buy stock in Oklo right now?
Before you buy stock in Oklo, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Oklo wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $471,827!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,319,291!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 986% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 207% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 10, 2026.
Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
