Tech companies are exploring partnerships with nuclear power plants to provide clean, reliable energy for AI data centers. The increasing demand for AI data centers is driving up electricity growth forecasts, reshaping the grid landscape. The nuclear-tech marriage could have potential impacts on power prices and emission-cutting goals.

Big tech firms like Amazon are actively speaking with utility companies to build artificial intelligence data centers powered by clean, reliable nuclear energy. This move aligns with the Next AI Trade investing theme, which was introduced to pro-subs in early April. The owners of roughly a third of US nuclear power plants are in talks with tech companies to provide electricity to new data centers needed to meet the demands of an artificial intelligence boom, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In particular, WSJ sources say Amazon Web Services is securing a deal with Constellation Energy, the largest owner of US nuclear power plants, to supply clean, reliable atomic power to a data center on the East Coast. This is not the first time Amazon has negotiated with utilities about nuclear power. In March, AWS purchased power provider Talen Energy’s 1200-acre data center campus, which is directly adjacent to its 2.5 gigawatt (GW) nuclear power at the Salem Township site in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

WSJ pointed out that tech companies demanding nuclear power for AI data centers would be effectively diverting existing electricity resources and could influence ongoing energy distribution strategies.

Source: Nuclear Plants in High Demand as Tech Firms Scramble to Ramp Up AI Data Centers.