Meta signs major nuclear energy contracts for AI infrastructure amid demand surge
Meta Platforms Inc. has signed a series of power contracts for data centers, making it the most significant corporate buyer of nuclear power in American history, the company said Friday (January 9).
The tech giant has acquired three existing Vistra Corp. that it will purchase electricity from the facility and Sam Altman-backed Oklo Inc. and Bill Gates-backed TerraPower LLC will support several small reactors it plans to build in the next decade. These deals follow a separate agreement in June to supply energy from Constellation Energy Corp.’s nuclear facility.
“Our agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo, and Constellation make Meta one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history. State-of-the-art data centers and AI infrastructure are essential to securing America’s position as a global leader in AI. Nuclear power, AI will help power our future, strengthen our nation’s energy infrastructure, and provide clean, reliable electricity to everyone,” Meta said. he said.
He added: “These projects will create thousands of skilled jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania, add new energy to the grid, extend the life of three existing nuclear power plants, and accelerate new reactor technologies.”
According to Bloomberg, the deals could exceed 6 gigawatts, enough to meet the needs of approximately 5 million homes. These deals show that Big Tech’s push to secure electricity supplies remains strong despite intense competition in the AI sector.
Vistra’s shares rose 10% before trading began in New York on Friday. Oklo’s shares are up nearly 20%.
As rising U.S. power demand for data centers drives interest in nuclear power, hyperscalers previously committed to going green have recently considered or entered into deals with natural gas-fired power plant generators, which are often much easier and faster to build. While nuclear projects typically take a decade to develop and build, data centers can become operational much more quickly, enabling energy demand to occur more quickly.
Energy consumption in the US is expected to increase by at least 30% by 2030, with most of the new demand coming from data centres, the news portal reported, citing energy consulting firm Grid Strategies. But energy suppliers are struggling to keep up, and electricity has become one of the key bottlenecks to the development of AI.
Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. signed agreements to obtain energy from nuclear reactors. It was stated that these initiatives are now overshadowed by Meta’s efforts.
About deals
Meta’s latest deals are in line with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s repeated commitments to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence and the infrastructure that supports it by the end of the decade. Notable projects include “Prometheus,” a 1-gigawatt data center in New Albany, Ohio, expected to be operational this year, and “Hyperion,” a rural Louisiana initiative that could expand to 5 gigawatts and come online in 2028.
The latest nuclear agreements will also support the Ohio-based Prometheus project. Under the agreement with Vistra, Meta will purchase energy from the Davis-Besse and Perry reactors in Ohio with a total operational capacity of over 2.1 gigawatts. Additionally, it will receive 433 megawatts of extra energy from these two plants and from planned upgrades aimed at increasing production from the Beaver Valley facility in Pennsylvania.
Vistra nuclear plants will continue to power the largest U.S. grid managed by PJM Interconnection LLC, serving more than 67 million people from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic.
In a separate deal with Oklo, Meta will buy up to 1.2 gigawatts of capacity from reactors Oklo plans to build in Ohio, with the first expected to enter service as early as 2030. Oklo is developing a 75-megawatt reactor, but that still requires approval from federal regulators. The agreement with Meta also includes a down payment, mainly to assist Oklo in the supply of fuel.
Meta also gave approval to support the development of TerraPower’s two reactors capable of producing up to 690 megawatts, to be delivered as early as 2032. It has also secured the energy rights for six other future reactor projects that will total 2.1 gigawatts of energy.
Last year, Zuckerberg told investors that he perceived more risk for his company in underspending on AI infrastructure than overspending. His strategy is to “aggressively front-load capacity” in preparation for a key moment when Meta will achieve its goal of “superintelligence,” a term that describes AI surpassing humans on many tasks.
