HOUSTON, Texas/PALO ALTO, California -- American technology giants are moving to procure more electricity from nuclear plants as demand for power-hungry artificial intelligence grows sharply.
Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft aim to source 14 million kilowatts combined from nuclear power by 2040, their procurement plans show. In addition to signing large nuclear-power procurement contracts with utilities, they also plan to construct small modular reactors (SMRs) on their own.
That amount of nuclear power exceeds the 13 million kW currently coming from reactors in operation in Japan.
The rapid spread of generative AI is driving this push for nuclear power. Data centers in the U.S. are projected to consume 130% more power in 2030 than at present, the International Energy Agency estimates.
Tech giants have procured power mostly from renewable sources such as solar. But output from renewables fluctuates sharply, leaving it less suited for data centers, which operate 24 hours a day. This has shifted the focus to nuclear.
Meta said in June that it signed a 20-year contract with U.S. utility Constellation Energy to procure output from a nuclear plant in the state of Illinois starting in 2027. This plant was slated to be decommissioned in 2027, but the deal supports the relicensing and continued operations of the facility.
Constellation also plans to bring Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the state of Pennsylvania back online, with the output to be sold to Microsoft for use in data centers. Amazon intends to invest at least $20 billion in data centers in Pennsylvania, and it plans to locate them near nuclear plants to receive electricity efficiently.
The tech companies also plan to build their own SMRs, which are relatively cheaper than conventional nuclear plants.
Amazon hopes to build small nuclear plants with a combined output topping 5 million kW by 2039 through a partnership with X-Energy Reactor, a U.S. developer of SMRs. Google also plans to construct SMRs with a combined output of 500,000 kW by 2035 with startups.
SMRs have lower construction costs compared with traditional reactors because the modules that house key components such as the reactor core and pressurizer are built in a factory and transported to the reactor site for installation.
The push to build SMRs in the U.S. is expected to benefit Japanese companies. IHI, which invests in American SMR developer NuScale Power, hopes to tap overseas markets with its advanced technologies in areas such as reactor pressure vessels. Hitachi develops SMRs with U.S. company GE Vernova and stands to gain as well.
Nuclear power accounted for 18% of the U.S. energy mix in 2024. The low figure compared with some other countries is a result of a slowdown in new construction following the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, while the tightening of safety rules after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan has led to construction delays and cost increases in the U.S.
Despite these headwinds, the Trump administration has made clear that it supports nuclear power, with President Donald Trump signing an executive order in May to jump-start the American nuclear energy industrial base. Plans call for shortening the screening period for new projects and allowing plants to be constructed on federal land.
