Meta has officially become one of the largest corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history.
The tech giant has announced a landmark series of agreements with three major energy providers to secure up to 6.6 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power by 2035.
The deals, resulting from a rigorous nuclear RFP process, position the tech giant as one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in US history.
The agreements with Oklo, TerraPower, and Vistra are designed to provide the clean, “firm” electricity required to power Meta’s next-generation AI infrastructure, specifically its Prometheus supercluster located in New Albany, Ohio.
Powering the “engine room” of AI
According to Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, state-of-the-art data centers and AI infrastructure are essential to securing America’s position as a global leader in AI.
He noted that nuclear energy will help power Meta’s AI future, strengthen the country’s energy infrastructure, and provide clean, reliable electricity for everyone.
The move marks a strategic shift toward advanced nuclear technologies to meet the massive energy demands of “personal superintelligence,” which the company has identified as a core focus for improving the lives of billions of people.
A three-pronged energy strategy
Meta’s nuclear strategy addresses three distinct areas of the energy sector through specific partnerships. The agreement with Bill Gates-founded TerraPower will provide funding to support the development of two new Natrium units capable of generating up to 690 MW of firm power as early as 2032.
This deal also grants Meta rights for energy from up to six additional units, totaling 2.8 GW of baseload energy generation capacity and an additional 1.2 GW of built-in storage.
In Pike County, Ohio, Meta is backing Oklo to help advance the development of an advanced nuclear technology campus which may come online as early as 2030. This project is poised to add up to 1.2 GW of clean baseload power directly into the PJM market using Aurora Powerhouse reactors, which are based on proven fast-reactor designs capable of using both fresh and repurposed fuel.
To address immediate and mid-term needs, Meta is providing financial certainty to keep existing infrastructure running through 20-year agreements with Vistra. Meta will purchase more than 2.1 GW of energy from the Perry and Davis-Besse plants in Ohio and the Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania.
These commitments include funding for “uprates,” which are physical upgrades to increase the capacity of these reactors by a total of 433 MW, expected to come online in the early 2030s.
Economic and grid impact
The projects are expected to provide thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of long-term operational jobs while reinforcing the American nuclear supply chain.
Meta pays the full costs for the energy used by its data centers so that consumers do not bear these expenses, and the company supports the broader grid through these energy agreements.
This initiative builds on Meta’s long-term work with innovative partners to back clean energy projects, having added nearly 28 GW of new energy to grids across 27 states over the last decade.