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Two companies backed by Bill Gates and Sam Altman have raised more than $1bn amid a surge in investor optimism that nuclear energy will help power the artificial intelligence revolution.
TerraPower, a private company founded by Gates, said on Wednesday it had raised $650mn from investors, including attracting funding for the first time from the venture capital arm of US chipmaker Nvidia.
It follows a $460mn equity raise closed this week by Oklo, the Altman-backed listed developer of small modular reactors, a new type of nuclear reactor that generates about a third or less power of the power of standard models.
Analysts said companies are capitalising on a positive funding environment created by recent deals struck by the likes of Google, Meta and Microsoft with nuclear developers and government support. This has pushed up the share prices of nuclear energy-related stocks to record levels and is generating momentum in private financing, they said.
Chris Levesque, TerraPower’s chief executive, told the Financial Times the funding was further proof that nuclear technology would be an important source of the power that industry needs for the roll out of AI.
TerraPower has raised more than $2bn in private financing and won a $2bn grant from the US government to co-fund the design and construction of its first nuclear reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming, which is cooled by liquid sodium rather than water.
Some existing investors, including Gates and HD Hyundai, a South Korean conglomerate, also participated in the latest fundraising, said TerraPower.
“This will fund TerraPower’s operations,” said Levesque, a former officer on a nuclear submarine, in an interview.
He added that the company would finish its plant design this year and that construction at Kemmerer had been ongoing for more than a year.
TerraPower is in a race with other US nuclear reactor developers such as Oklo, as well as Chinese and Russian groups to deploy and prove their SMR designs can be commercially successful.
They are responding to a surge in interest from technology companies and utilities seeking reliable electricity supplies to fuel power-hungry AI data centres.
After two decades of almost flat growth, electricity demand in the US is forecast to rise by as much as 25 per cent by 2050, compared to 2023 levels, according to projections by consultancy ICF.
“The global increase in demand, especially for 24/7 electricity to power industry and AI, along with the environmental benefits, and supply constraints of alternatives, has created a market premium for nuclear energy,” said Adam Stein, analyst at the Breakthrough Institute think-tank.
“Investment opportunities for nuclear energy technology developers and the related supply chain are very strong right now,” he said.
On Monday, Oklo said it had raised $460mn in funds through an equity raise, $60mn more than was initially guided by the company.
Altman, who was an early stage investor in Oklo and became chair in 2015, stepped down from the role in April to avoid a conflict of interest before the company began talks with Open AI about signing an energy agreement.
Small reactor developers including Oklo, X-energy and Newcleo have raised at least $2bn since early 2024, according to an FT analysis of public records and data from PitchBook and BloombergNEF.
