The Energy Race Behind AI: How Meta Became Nuclear Power's Biggest Tech Customer

As artificial intelligence demand explodes, the competition for reliable electricity has become just as fierce. Meta Platforms Inc. is now at the forefront of this energy scramble, securing unprecedented nuclear power agreements that position it as the largest tech industry buyer of nuclear energy for data center operations.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Meta’s nuclear commitments are staggering in scale. The company has locked in agreements totaling over 6 gigawatts of capacity—equivalent to powering approximately 5 million households. This energy arsenal will fuel Meta’s ambitious AI infrastructure expansion, including massive data center projects like “Prometheus” in Ohio and the massive “Hyperion” facility planned for Louisiana.

The deals announced Friday showcase Meta’s multi-pronged approach: purchasing energy from three Vistra Corp. nuclear reactors, supporting small modular reactor development through both Oklo Inc. (backed by Sam Altman) and TerraPower LLC (with Bill Gates’ backing), plus a separate arrangement with Constellation Energy Corp. The market reacted positively—Vistra stock surged 10% in pre-market trading, while Oklo climbed approximately 20%.

Breaking Down the Specific Commitments

The nuclear portfolio includes specific capacity additions:

• Over 2.1 gigawatts from Davis-Besse and Perry reactors in Ohio, plus an additional 433 megawatts from planned upgrades across these Ohio facilities and Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania
• Up to 1.2 gigawatts from new Oklo reactors targeted for Ohio, with the first operational by 2030, supported by Meta’s prepayment for reactor fuel
• Up to 690 megawatts from two TerraPower reactors with potential delivery by 2032
• 2.1 gigawatts from six future reactor options, representing long-term energy security

These reactors will serve the PJM Interconnection grid, which supplies power to over 67 million people across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions.

Why Nuclear Became Essential

The fundamental challenge is simple: AI data centers consume staggering amounts of electricity. Grid Strategies projects U.S. electricity demand will rise at least 30% by 2030, with data centers driving the majority of this growth. Power availability has become the critical bottleneck for AI development.

While Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft have all signed their own nuclear energy contracts, Meta’s recent commitments exceed their efforts in scale and ambition. The company’s global energy chief Urvi Parekh explained the rationale: “There’s no single solution that will get the US to a point where nuclear is a significant part of the energy mix. The key is to expand our options and technologies as AI grows, rather than limiting what can be added to the grid.”

This sentiment reflects a broader industry reality. Tech giants previously committed to renewable energy are now also securing natural gas plant contracts—a faster-to-build alternative, though less sustainable. Nuclear projects typically require a decade to complete, while data centers can launch much sooner, creating urgency for diverse energy solutions.

The Hyperion and Prometheus Projects

Meta’s infrastructure ambitions drive this energy strategy. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has committed to investing hundreds of billions through the decade in AI infrastructure and capability advancement. Two flagship projects exemplify this scale:

Prometheus is a 1-gigawatt data center cluster in New Albany, Ohio, launching this year and powered partly by nuclear agreements. Hyperion, Meta’s largest AI facility under construction in rural Louisiana, could ultimately reach 5 gigawatts and complete in 2028. Notably, Hyperion will be powered by at least three natural gas plants, with utility provider Entergy Corp. applying to add additional gas generation capacity.

The Strategic Imperative

Zuckerberg has previously told investors that underinvestment in AI infrastructure poses greater risk than overspending. His development strategy assumes rapid capacity building toward reaching “superintelligence”—AI systems exceeding human capabilities across numerous domains.

“If electricity generation doesn’t increase, it could slow the pace of AI advancement,” Parekh noted. This urgency explains Meta’s willingness to sign long-term nuclear commitments despite their complexity and regulatory requirements.

TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque underscored the broader energy landscape: “Nuclear energy must play a major role in meeting the power needs of AI.” His statement reflects industry consensus that conventional energy sources alone cannot sustain the computational demands ahead.

The Broader Context

Meta’s nuclear strategy represents more than corporate energy procurement—it reflects fundamental shifts in how technology infrastructure connects to energy policy, sustainability concerns, and geopolitical competition. By securing long-term nuclear capacity, Meta is essentially betting on both its AI supremacy and nuclear power’s expanded role in the American energy mix.

The financial details of these contracts remain undisclosed, but the strategic value is unmistakable: guaranteed reliable power for the next decade, partial ownership of new reactor development, and positioning Meta as the technology sector’s leading nuclear energy customer.