Reuters reports that major technology companies are putting real financial weight behind next-generation nuclear projects to secure reliable electricity for power-hungry AI data centres.
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and others are locking in future energy supplies through long-term contracts with nuclear developers, turning power generation into a strategic technology layer rather than a background utility.
The scale of AI power consumption is staggering. A single training run for a frontier AI model now consumes as much electricity as a small city uses in a month. The International Energy Agency estimates that AI data centres will consume 4.5% of global electricity by 2030, up from 1.5% in 2024.
Microsoft has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Google has invested $500 million in Kairos Power's molten salt reactor technology. Amazon has acquired a nuclear-powered data centre campus in Ohio.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are the preferred technology. Unlike traditional nuclear plants, which take 10-15 years to build, SMRs can be deployed in 3-5 years and placed adjacent to data centres, eliminating transmission losses.