Here in the tech mecca that is San Francisco, the AI hype cycle continues. Billboards blare exclusionary jargon about the next industry disruption, everyone seems to be enthusiastically pitching their new startup, and our vocal hometown billionaires pooh-pooh public concerns about the massive drain on the energy grid. Yes, energy needs are on the rise and will remain so for the foreseeable future, as every ChatGPT query consumes roughly ten times the electricity of a standard Google search. With the grid already straining, the tech titans are no longer looking at the wind or the sun to save them. Instead, they are betting on the atom. Science News’s Emily Conover dials into the details.

⚡️ Nuclear without the nightmares

We’re not talking about those hulking nuclear reactor cooling towers best known from meltdown disaster footage. Instead, the new focus is on small modular reactors and advanced reactor designs for better, safer and faster deployment. Data centers may require up to 17 percent of U.S. grid power by 2030, with some new nuclear plants sited to support these hubs directly, reducing transmission losses. Unlike massive legacy plants that take decades to build and can go billions over budget, SMRs are manufactured in factories, shipped to the site and can be deployed individually or in clusters. They use passive safety systems, meaning they can shut themselves down without human intervention or electricity if something goes wrong.

☢️ Meltdown-proof portfolios?

Big tech is fired up. Google is partnering with Kairos Power for a project in Tennessee; Amazon has invested in X-energy in Washington state and Virginia; Microsoft has its sights on Three Mile Island (as in, the U.S.’s own wake-up call for nuclear safety), Meta has cut deals with Vistra and TerraPower and both Meta and OpenAI are working with Oklo.

As oil and electricity costs rise, Big Tech’s move toward private nuclear power could actually prevent AI from cannibalizing the public’s residential energy supply. The consequence of ignoring this trend could be losing gazillions of dollars in power outages, so it’s likely the companies that secure their own sovereign power sources will be the only ones capable of running the massive compute clusters they’ve deemed necessary to stay competitive in the 2030s.

💫 Atomic all-stars

Here are the leading companies building the hardware:

• X-energy: With two models of small reactors and its own proprietary brand of unmeltable fuel, the company recently announced massive collaborations with Dow Chemical and Amazon. X-energy has raised over $1.7 billion in private funding, bolstered by significant U.S. Department of Energy grants.
  
• TerraPower: Founded by Bill Gates, this venture focuses on technology that uses liquid sodium instead of water to transfer heat for power generation. This higher efficiency material also operates at lower pressure for safety. TerraPower has secured at least $1.5 billion as of its latest funding round, and the Department of Energy has agreed to pick up part of the projected $4 billion cost of its first reactor. Eventually, the reactors will produce electricity for half as much as run-of-the-mill nuclear plants, according to the firm.
  
• NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) is the first company to receive U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission design approval for a small modular reactor. Before going public, NuScale raised over $2.4 billion in private equity and hundreds of millions in government cost-sharing, with its most recent February 2026 round topping the charts at $1.4 billion.
  
• Oklo (NYSE: OKLO), based in Santa Clara, Calif., focuses on creating plants that replace water with liquid metal coolants and that recycle nuclear fuel. This self-sustaining cycle maximizes power output while significantly reducing waste. As of early 2026, Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO) is a prerevenue company, generating zero revenue from operations as it develops its advanced nuclear reactors. While it has secured partnerships and has significant cash on hand for development, it does not currently operate power plants. Analysts forecast an expected revenue of $51 million by 2029.

If these investments pay off, the next generation of Silicon Valley power is going to look radiant.

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