Amazon, Google, And Meta Plan To Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity By 2050

At the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Amazon, Google, Occidental, and Japan’s IHI Corp pledged to help triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050, according to Reuters.

“We are truly at the beginning of a new industry,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The World Nuclear Association (WNA) expects more support for the pledge from maritime, aviation, and oil and gas industries in the coming months. This builds on a 2023 commitment by over 30 countries to triple nuclear capacity by 2050.

Nuclear energy, generating 9% of global electricity from 439 reactors, is increasingly attractive for power-hungry data centers, with Big Tech signing billion-dollar utility deals.

Reuters reported that uranium oxide prices hit a 16-year high in early 2024 due to supply concerns and rising demand, following COVID-19 disruptions. Supply remains tight, with Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia producing two-thirds of global uranium in 2022, according to WNA.

As of early 2025, 411 nuclear reactors operated worldwide with a combined 371-gigawatt capacity. Amazon, investing over $1 billion in nuclear projects, is exploring small modular reactors, while Meta and Google are also considering the emerging technology.

We’ve been following the story since late last year. We wrote back in early November that Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told Meta workers that plans to build an AI data center powered by nuclear energy were scrapped after rare bees were discovered on the proposed site.

But by December it looked like things could be back on track, according to reporting from Axios, who noted first that Meta is joining industry heavyweights like Amazon and Google in exploring nuclear energy as a zero-carbon solution.

And as we have continued to report, accelerating power demand growth from AI data centers has sparked a nuclear power revival in the US:

• Amazon To Invest More Than $500 Million In Small Modular Nuclear Reactors To Power AWS

• Nuclear Names Surge After Three Mile Island Planned Restart To Power Microsoft Data Centers

• Nuclear Is Back: US Closes On $1.5 Billion Loan To Resurrect Holtec’s Palisades Nuclear Plant

• Sam Altman-Backed Nuclear Startup Oklo Signs Agreement With Dept. Of Energy For Next Phase Of Siting In Idaho

For those who missed it, in our note “The Next AI Trade” from April 2024, almost one year ago, we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, most of which have dramatically outperformed the market since then.