Nvidia Invests in Nuclear Startup TerraPower to Power AI's Growing Energy Demands

Nvidia goes nuclear -- company joins Bill Gates in backing TerraPower, a company building nuclear reactors for powering data centers

Nvidia, through its venture capital arm NVentures, has joined Bill Gates and HD Hyundai in raising $650 million to back TerraPower, Gates' nuclear power startup founded in 2006 that's been working on small modular reactor (SMR) technology to standardize, miniaturize, and scale nuclear power. The startup is developing a 345-megawatt Natrium plant in Wyoming that uses liquid sodium for cooling and molten salt to store excess generated heat of up to one gigawatt for later storage. According to The Register, the nuclear power plant is being developed as part of the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program of the Department of Energy, as it's looking to push the next generation of clean and reliable energy sources. This isn't the first time that a tech company has put money into nuclear power, as several others have already invested in competing projects. For example, Oracle has secured permits to build three SMRs that can push out a total of one gigawatt for its AI data centers, while Microsoft plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor. Google soon followed suit, signing a deal with Kairos for seven SMRs for its operations, as Amazon is pouring money into three different energy companies -- two of which work with nuclear reactors -- to help secure its future power demands. Surprisingly, Meta is a bit late to the game, opening its doors for nuclear solutions only late last year. After all, its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, said that now that the AI GPU bottleneck has eased, it's power -- or the lack thereof -- that will limit the growth of AI. The Natrium plant has already begun construction of its non-nuclear portions in Wyoming, but it has yet to receive regulatory approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for it to start working on the power-producing parts of the plant. The company says that it does not expect to get this until 2026, and that it won't start producing power for consumption until 2030. Another project that's already in the initial construction phase is Kairos' Hermes non-power demonstration reactor, which is being built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This is a non-light-water reactor that uses molten fluoride salt for cooling and can produce about 35 megawatts of heat, but not electricity. The purpose of this test plant is to test the safety and viability of the technology before the company gets full approval and deploys it for power generation. Westinghouse, a pillar in the nuclear power industry, is also pushing for SMRs with its eVinci micro nuclear reactor. This tiny unit can be easily carried on the back of a semi-truck and deployed in the field as a single unit. It's designed to work 24/7 for eight years without refueling -- once its nuclear fuel is spent, Westinghouse would just deploy another SMR to minimize downtime and ensure that the site is continuously powered. All these projects are part of the massive amount of investments that AI companies and data centers are pouring into the system. As AI data centers deliver more performance, they also require more electrical power, so much more than what the current national grid can deliver. Recently, AMD revealed zettascale supercomputers will need half a gigawatt to operate, equivalent to the power of 375,000 homes. So, tech giants are hedging their bets by building their own SMRs and ensuring that they have enough power to keep their expensive data centers continuously running.

Nvidia bets on Gates-backed TerraPower micronuclear provider

$650M funding round aims to bring TerraPower's Natrium power plant in Wyoming online by 2030 Datacenter operators' desire for cheap and clean energy to power their facilities has led to renewed interest in nuclear energy and small modular reactors (SMRs) - a tech Nvidia has just decided is worthy of investment. The GPU giant's venture capital arm, NVentures, this week joined Bill Gates and HD Hyundai in a $650 million funding round that pumped cash into a company called TerraPower that aims to make micro-reactors a reality. Founded in 2006 by the former Microsoft CEO, TerraPower has spent the better part of two decades developing a reactor design that's easier and cheaper to build than the massive water pressure reactors common today. Developed in collaboration with the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project, TerraPower's Natrium plant in Wyoming will feature a 345-megawatt reactor backed by a molten salt energy storage system with a gigawatt of capacity. Work on the non-nuclear portions of the plan began last year. But before you get too excited, it's going to be a while before TerraPower's Natrium reactor tech actually achieves fission. The company hasn't secured regulatory approval for the project and doesn't expect the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to green light the project until sometime next year. Despite that red tape and SMRs remaining unproven, tech giants have embraced the nuclear energy. Nearly every cloud and hyperscaler has announced some kind of nuclear energy initiative. AWS is working with X-energy and Dominion Energy; Google is betting on Kairos; Microsoft is working to reignite Three-Mile Island, and Oracle has announced plans to deploy at least three SMRs with over a gigawatt of combined capacity. TerraPower has also found a datacenter customer. In January it signed a memorandum of understanding to supply Sabey Data Centers with nuclear energy. Nuclear energy advocates point to the fact that datacenters often use diesel or gas turbines to supplement energy they draw from the grid. For instance, xAI deployed 35 mobile gas generators to power its Colossus supercomputer in Memphis until the local utility could complete work on a pair of 150 megawatt substations. Mobile generators and natural gas plants may provide a stopgap, but even these face health environmental challenges. This week the NAACP sued Elon Musk's xAI over the public health risks posed by its continued reliance on gas generators. We don't imagine folks will be thrilled to have a cluster of miniature nuclear reactors in their back yard, either, but at least they won't be filling the air with smog. Nvidia, for its part, has a vested interest in these alternative energy projects. "As AI continues to transform industries, nuclear energy is going to become a more vital energy source to help power these capabilities," NVentures head Mohamed Siddeek said in a canned statement. "TerraPower's nuclear reactor technologies offer innovative, carbon-free solutions to meet global energy needs while minimizing environmental impact." In other words, the more energy datacenters can source, the more GPUs they can run. TerraPower expects to get regulatory approval to move forward with its first Wyoming plant next year, but doesn't expect its reactor will export power until 2030. TerraPower originally planned to power up the plant in 2028 but work on the project was delayed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted its fuel supply. Even if TerraPower's plant works, that doesn't mean it or anyone else's SMRs will be economically viable. NuScale, which was among the first SMR aspirants, abandoned its project after costs increased. In fact, skeptics contend that SMRs will never take off. Last year the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis determined that, despite the hype, SMRs were "too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky to play a significant role in transitioning away from fossil fuels." ®

Tech-backed nuclear groups raise $1bn as investors bet on power-hungry AI

Two companies backed by Bill Gates and Sam Altman have raised more than $1bn amid a surge in investor optimism that nuclear energy will help power the artificial intelligence revolution. TerraPower, a private company founded by Gates, said on Wednesday it had raised $650mn from investors, including attracting funding for the first time from the venture capital arm of US chipmaker Nvidia. It follows a $460mn equity raise closed this week by Oklo, the Altman-backed listed developer of small modular reactors, a new type of nuclear reactor that generates about a third or less power of the power of standard models. Analysts said companies are capitalising on a positive funding environment created by recent deals struck by the likes of Google, Meta and Microsoft with nuclear developers and government support. This has pushed up the share prices of nuclear energy-related stocks to record levels and is generating momentum in private financing, they said. Chris Levesque, TerraPower's chief executive, told the Financial Times the funding was further proof that nuclear technology would be an important source of the power that industry needs for the roll out of AI. TerraPower has raised more than $2bn in private financing and won a $2bn grant from the US government to co-fund the design and construction of its first nuclear reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming, which is cooled by liquid sodium rather than water. Some existing investors, including Gates and HD Hyundai, a South Korean conglomerate, also participated in the latest fundraising, said TerraPower. "This will fund TerraPower's operations," said Levesque, a former officer on a nuclear submarine, in an interview. He added that the company would finish its plant design this year and that construction at Kemmerer had been ongoing for more than a year. TerraPower is in a race with other US nuclear reactor developers such as Oklo, as well as Chinese and Russian groups to deploy and prove their SMR designs can be commercially successful. They are responding to a surge in interest from technology companies and utilities seeking reliable electricity supplies to fuel power-hungry AI data centres. After two decades of almost flat growth, electricity demand in the US is forecast to rise by as much as 25 per cent by 2050, compared to 2023 levels, according to projections by consultancy ICF. "The global increase in demand, especially for 24/7 electricity to power industry and AI, along with the environmental benefits, and supply constraints of alternatives, has created a market premium for nuclear energy," said Adam Stein, analyst at the Breakthrough Institute think-tank. "Investment opportunities for nuclear energy technology developers and the related supply chain are very strong right now," he said. On Monday, Oklo said it had raised $460mn in funds through an equity raise, $60mn more than was initially guided by the company. Altman, who was an early stage investor in Oklo and became chair in 2015, stepped down from the role in April to avoid a conflict of interest before the company began talks with Open AI about signing an energy agreement. Small reactor developers including Oklo, X-energy and Newcleo have raised at least $2bn since early 2024, according to an FT analysis of public records and data from PitchBook and BloombergNEF.

TerraPower lands $650M from NVIDIA's investment fund, Bill Gates and others

The round includes new investor NVentures, the venture capital arm of leading computer chip maker NVIDIA, as well as current investors Bill Gates, who helped found the company, and HD Hyundai, which builds ships. While clean energy technologies such as wind, solar and batteries have taken a beating under Trump administration policies that favor fossil fuels, nuclear power has held on to its longstanding bipartisan support. At the same time, the rapidly growing use of energy-hungry artificial intelligence has sent the tech sector scrambling to secure new power sources. "As AI continues to transform industries, nuclear energy is going to become a more vital energy source to help power these capabilities," said Mohamed "Sid" Siddeek, corporate vice president and head of NVentures, in a statement. "TerraPower's nuclear reactor technologies offer innovative, carbon-free solutions to meet global energy needs while minimizing environmental impact." The company previously raised more than $1 billion, including investments from Gates as well as South Korea-based SK Inc. and SK Innovation, according to PitchBook. It has additionally been awarded roughly $2 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy. Washington-based TerraPower has offices and research space in Bellevue and Everett. This spring, TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque gave a bullish assessment of his company's prospects at a Bellevue Chamber event. The company is building its first small modular nuclear reactor near a retiring coal plant in Wyoming. It's ahead of schedule on the permitting review process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And it has lined up partnerships to bolster its supply chain, provide fuel for the reactor, and deploy additional reactors in the U.S. and abroad. "2030 is the date for making electricity [in Wyoming], and we're on schedule for that," Levesque said in March. And by that time, he added, "we plan to have something like 10 or 12 other plants under construction." That timeline could make it the first company to deploy next-generation nuclear technology in America. Splitting atoms for energy is attractive because it doesn't produce carbon emissions and can operate 24/7. Amazon, Google and other corporations have signed a pledge to work toward tripling global nuclear power output by 2050. Amazon last year launched partnerships to help fund the construction of four reactors in central Washington, while Microsoft has a deal to restart a nuclear reactor at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island. NuScale, an Oregon company that's also developing small modular reactors, is reportedly in discussions with multiple "tier one" data center giants or "hyperscalers" that are interested in its nuclear power, according to Axios.

Nvidia joins Gates-backed nuclear startup to power AI's energy needs

The chip designer's venture arm, NVentures, participated in a $650 million funding round, joining co-investors including Gates and industrial conglomerate HD Hyundai to support developing advanced small modular reactors (SMRs). The investment comes as the technology industry confronts data centers' rapidly escalating power consumption. Projections from energy analysts indicate that data center electricity demand could more than double by the end of the decade, largely driven by the intensive computational needs of AI models. This growth poses a challenge to the grid and to the carbon-reduction goals of many tech companies, prompting a search for dense, consistent, and carbon-free energy sources. "As AI continues to transform industries, nuclear energy is going to become a more vital energy source to help power these capabilities," said Mohamed "Sid" Siddeek, Corporate Vice President and Head of NVentures. "TerraPower's nuclear reactor technologies offer innovative, carbon-free solutions to meet global energy needs while minimizing environmental impact."

Bill Gates-Founded Nuclear Energy Startup Raises $650M From Nvidia's VC Arm, Others

Bellevue, Washington-based TerraPower has now raised $1.4 billion from investors, per Crunchbase data, making it one of the most well-funded startups working on nuclear-related technologies. The company was founded in 2006 by Gates and other climate-focused investors. It is in the midst of building a 345-watt nuclear power plant at the site of a retiring coal plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. It hopes to secure regulatory approval for the reactor next year, it said. The deal comes amid heightened interest in new energy sources to power artificial intelligence data centers, but as venture funding to cleantech posted a lackluster year in 2024. "As AI continues to transform industries, nuclear energy is going to become a more vital energy source to help power these capabilities," Mohamed "Sid" Siddeek, corporate vice president at NVentures, Nvidia's venture arm, said in a statement. "TerraPower's nuclear reactor technologies offer innovative, carbon-free solutions to meet global energy needs while minimizing environmental impact." Other nuclear-power related startups that have raised significant funding include many working on fusion-related technology: Related Crunchbase queries: Related reading:

Bill Gates Lands Nvidia As Partner In $650 Million Nuclear Push To Power AI Revolution - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Nvidia Corporation's NVDA venture capital arm, NVentures, has joined a $650 million funding round for TerraPower, a nuclear energy company founded by Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates. What Happened: The investment also includes participation from HD Hyundai and aims to bring TerraPower's Natrium reactor online in Wyoming by 2030. TerraPower's reactor design, developed with the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project, features a 345-megawatt small modular reactor (SMR) coupled with a molten salt energy storage system that can scale up to 1 gigawatt. Construction has begun on non-nuclear parts of the facility, but full regulatory approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not expected until 2026, reported The Register. See Also: Elon Musk Warns US Faces 'De Facto' Bankruptcy If $37 Trillion Debt Not Tackled, Peter Schiff Says, 'We Are Already Bankrupt' The company originally planned to launch in 2028, but delays followed the loss of its Russian fuel supply after the Ukraine invasion. Why It's Important: With generative AI models demanding massive computing power, data centers are struggling to find clean, scalable and reliable energy sources. Nuclear energy -- particularly small modular reactors -- is increasingly viewed by tech giants as a long-term solution. Head of NVentures, Mohamed Siddeek, said nuclear will be essential "as AI continues to transform industries." TerraPower has already signed an agreement to supply nuclear power to Sabey Data Centers and joins a growing list of nuclear efforts across the tech sector. Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Microsoft and Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google have all announced partnerships or projects involving nuclear energy. Price Action: Nvidia shares have risen 5.18% since the start of the year and are up 11.24% over the past 12 months. On Wednesday, the stock advanced 0.94% to close at $145.48, per Benzinga Pro. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate consistent upward momentum for Nvidia across short-, medium and long-term timeframes. Additional performance insights are available here. Read More: 'Most People Don't Have The B**ls To Do It,' Says Mark Cuban, Praising Musk For Going 'All In' With His Own Money For His Startups Photo: Hepha1st0s On Shutterstock.com Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. AMZNAmazon.com Inc$212.53-1.07%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum60.73Growth97.14Quality73.37Value49.29Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewGOOGAlphabet Inc$174.60-1.48%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$173.87-1.18%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$480.830.58%NVDANVIDIA Corp$145.070.66%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs