Google is going nuclear for AI

Google is going nuclear — literally. The search engine giant is set to buy a fleet of mini nuclear reactors in a “world’s first” corporate energy deal.

The deal, in partnership with California-based Kairos Power, Google aims to build six to seven of these compact reactors by 2035, with the first expected to go live as soon as 2030. The power demands of artificial intelligence are exploding, and Google says nuclear energy provides the “clean, round-the-clock power” it needs to keep its operations running on carbon-free energy 24/7.

According to some estimates, training cutting-edge AI models like ChatGPT or Google’s own Gemini consumes immense energy, potentially generating as much as 626,000 pounds of CO2 per model. That’s equivalent to roughly “300 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco, or five times the lifetime emissions of an average car.”

Google isn’t the only tech giant making a play for nuclear energy in the AI era. Last month, Microsoft made headlines by announcing its own nuclear energy deal—a plan to revive the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the site of the worst nuclear meltdown in U.S. history. The facility has long been dormant and is now slated to be restored to meet Microsoft’s growing AI energy demands.

Even Amazon has a nuclear energy deal.

While locations and financial specifics for these deals are still under wraps, the deal has already been set in motion. The company has committed to buying 500 megawatts of nuclear power—enough to drive an electric car around 2 million miles. Kairos also plans to have a demonstration plant slated for construction in Tennessee, set to be operational by 2027.