Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google has inked a strategic partnership with Kairos Power to construct nuclear plants that will generate enough energy to power its artificial intelligence technologies. The two are to build seven small nuclear reactors with the potential of funneling up to 500 megawatts of power, enough to power a mid-sized city.
Nuclear Power for AI
As part of the strategic partnership, the first nuclear plant should be up and running by 2030, with the others expected to come online by 2035. Tech giants are increasingly turning to nuclear energy as one of the ways of generating enough power to meet the ever-growing energy demand and power energy-intensive operations due to artificial intelligence.
Nuclear solutions are turning out to be the real deal as they offer clean and round-the-clock power that can help meet the demand for electricity for AI while ensuring carbon-free energy every hour. Likewise, it aligns with the push to drive the rapid decarbonization of electricity grids worldwide.
Google is one of many companies pursuing nuclear energy to meet the ever-growing energy demand for its artificial intelligence operations. Microsoft partnered with Constellation Energy to restart an undamaged nuclear reactor in Three Mile Island. The plant is to generate the much-needed clean energy to power Microsoft’s (MSFT) AI data centre.
Microsoft has already signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation to spend $1.6 billion to restart the nuclear reactor. Following its purchase by Constellation in 2000, the unit generated enough electricity to power 800,000 homes for nearly two years while reducing more than 95 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
The push for nuclear energy comes as experts warn that data centres amid the artificial intelligence revolution have the potential to strain the US power grid. Grid Strategies’ five-year forecast for growth last year was 2.6%. Since then, that percentage has almost doubled to 4.7%, and planners anticipate a 38 gigawatts increase in peak demand. That is enough to power 12.7 million homes in the real world.
Nvidia Blackwell Demand
Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) has roared to life after calming investors’ concerns about product relays of its much sought-after Blackwell Chip. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang reiterated that they are in full production mode to meet the insane demand for the advanced chipset, which was the catalyst behind the stock rallying by 14% since the start of the month.
The company is in full production mode, having emerged that Blackwell orders have been booked out for 12 months or so. Amid the strong demand, analysts predict that Nvidia’s revenue will increase by 44% in the next fiscal year and will more than double its current revenue.
The remarks support the idea that Nvidia is still a popular option for AI investments, particularly since big businesses are still dedicated to their AI projects. For instance, Microsoft Corp. is anticipated to increase its capital expenditures by almost a third to approximately $58 billion in fiscal 2025 as it seeks to enhance its artificial intelligence technologies.
Beyond Blackwell’s growing demand, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s recent sales demonstrated a high demand for AI, and OpenAI’s funding round yielded a $157 billion valuation. Alphabet Inc. is also working on an AI model with reasoning capabilities, which OpenAI recently released.
