Meta wants to join the big tech nuclear club

Meta wants help from nuclear energy developers to power its data centers for AI, saying it needs up to four gigawatts of supply to meet surging demands.

The move comes amid a drive by big tech firms to find new sources of energy, as AI models increasingly grow in size and require more and more power.

The 4GW Meta says it may require is enough to power four million homes by some counts. Google, Microsoft, and Oracle have all begun developing nuclear power partnerships.

Meta said the drive to accelerate AI innovation — and other advanced technologies that will "build the future of human connection" — will require new electric grids along with new sources of reliable, clean energy. To help achieve that with nuclear power, Meta announced a request for proposals to help find potential partners.

"Supporting the development of clean energy must continue to be a priority as electric grids expand to accommodate growing energy needs," the company said in a blog post.

"At Meta, we believe nuclear energy will play a pivotal role in the transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and diversified electric grid."

The announcement comes amid plans to build a $10 billion AI focused data center in Louisiana, which will be powered in part through renewable energy.

Why Meta needs nuclear partners

Meta noted that nuclear projects are more challenging to support than solar or wind, as they're more expensive, take longer to develop, and have tighter regulatory requirements.

"These differences mean we need to engage nuclear energy projects earlier in their development lifecycle and consider their operational requirements when designing a contract.," the company said in the blog post.

"And, as scaling deployments of nuclear technology offers the best chance of rapidly reducing cost, engaging with a partner across projects and locations will allow us to ensure that we can deploy strategically."

Those challenges are why the company is using the request for proposals process to find partners. The aim is to have between one and four gigawatts of new nuclear generation capacity by the early 2030s. The project will be delivered in the US.

Big tech is all in on nuclear

Meta isn’t the only big tech company turning to nuclear power to meet the growing demands of AI. As AI models get bigger and bigger — required to boost the accuracy of large language models — they require more energy to train and run.

In October, Google signed a deal for seven modular reactors from Kairos Power that will generate 500MW of power, beginning in 2030.

Amazon is trying to convince regulators to allow it to build a $650 million data centre next to a 2.5GW nuclear station in Pennsylvania, while Microsoft has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation for nuclear energy partially sourced from Three Mile Island.

Oracle said in September it had building permits for three modular reactors. CEO Larry Ellison said at the time that the company had 162 data centers live and under construction, with the largest drawing 800 megawatts.

“That's what's required to stay competitive in the race to build one - just one - of the most powerful artificial neural networks in the world,” Ellison said.