Amazon on Wednesday announced plans to invest in nuclear power to provide clean energy for its data centers. This is a key part of the e-commerce giant’s efforts to expand its AI-powered services.
“Nuclear power is safe, reliable, and will help meet our customers’ energy needs for decades to come,” Kevin Miller, vice president of global data centers at Amazon Web Services, said in a statement. The company has a goal of achieving net zero carbon (the amount of greenhouse gases produced equals the amount removed from the atmosphere) across its operations by 2040.
Amazon is the latest tech giant to turn to nuclear power as a clean energy source as data centers demand more power. Earlier this week, Google announced a partnership with California-based Kairos Power, with Google planning to buy electricity generated from small nuclear reactors built by Kairos. The first reactor is expected to be operational by 2030.
And last month, Microsoft announced an agreement with the owners of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania to bring the facility back online to produce energy for Microsoft.
Amazon is partnering with Dominion Energy Virginia, Energy Northwest and Talen Energy to explore new initiatives to advance nuclear energy, including developing smaller, faster nuclear reactors. The company is also an investor in Maryland-based X-Energy Reactor Company, which announced Wednesday that it has raised $500 million in funding.
Robert Blue, Dominion Energy’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the partnership is a “significant step forward” that will accelerate the development of “carbon-free power generation in Virginia,” according to a company news release. Ta.
The partnership comes as technology companies face increased demand for electricity due to the race to develop AI services that can generate text, images and other content. Tech giants, which are already investing in solar and wind technologies, are exploring new sources of clean energy as pressure grows to limit greenhouse gas emissions produced by the expansion of AI products. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere and cause temperatures to rise.
According to Goldman Sachs, on average, processing a query on OpenAI’s ChatGPT requires nearly 10 times more power than a Google search. Analysts at the company predict that by 2030, the electricity required to operate data centers, where large-scale computing operations are performed to support a variety of technology services, will increase by 160%.
The International Energy Agency estimates that total data center power consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026, more than double the amount used in 2022.
Amazon’s announcement drew praise from lawmakers and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm as the U.S. pursues a goal of becoming completely reliant on clean electricity by 2035.
Amazon announced in July that it had achieved its goal of powering its global operations, including its data centers, with 100% renewable energy by 2023, seven years ahead of 2030.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
