Nuclear Energy

Nuclear startups are suddenly bankable as hyperscale data centers devour electricity faster than grids can supply it. X-Energy raised $1.02bn in its public debut with Amazon leading the charge, betting small modular reactors can solve AI's power bottleneck within the decade. The IPO values X-Energy at $3.2bn despite zero commercial reactors operating, a premium that reflects Silicon Valley's desperation for carbon-free baseload power. Amazon needs 40GW of new capacity by 2030 for its data center expansion, equivalent to powering 30 million homes. Traditional renewables cannot match nuclear's density and reliability, making these reactors the only viable path to AI scale without carbon guilt.