Amazon has announced partnerships with three energy companies to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) aimed at meeting its growing electricity demands. The agreements involve X-energy, Energy Northwest, and Dominion Energy.
The deal with X-energy includes a direct investment of $500 million, aimed at accelerating the development of its Xe-100 reactor, expected to be operational by 2030. This reactor will generate 80 megawatts of electricity using a high-temperature gas-cooled design.
Energy Northwest will construct four SMRs with a combined capacity of 320 megawatts in Washington state, potentially expanding to 960 megawatts. Meanwhile, Dominion Energy will explore a project near North Anna, Virginia, to add 300 megawatts.
Amazon's move reflects the increasing energy needs of its cloud computing operations, which significantly impact electricity consumption. This follows similar commitments from Google and Microsoft to invest in nuclear energy to power their data centers.
These developments come as the demand for energy from data centers is projected to rise by 160% by 2030, with artificial intelligence contributing significantly to this growth.