Amazon has added fuel to the nuclear energy sector again, with Oklo and NuScale both soaring more than 40%

To meet the increasing demand for AI computing power, US tech giants are competing to invest in clean energy nuclear power to power data centers. This has also fueled the continuous surge of nuclear energy and related concept stocks this year.

On October 16th, the news that Amazon will invest over $500 million in developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) added fuel to the nuclear energy sector. The stock prices of nuclear energy startups Oklo and NuScale Power Corp surged over 40%, with the latter reaching a new high and becoming the top-performing stocks on the NYSE overnight.

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and other large tech companies are betting on nuclear energy, making nuclear energy stocks one of the best-performing sectors in the US stock market this year. Media reports recently stated that about one-third of US nuclear plant owners are in talks with tech companies to provide power for newly built data centers.

Oklo and NuScale drive the surge in nuclear energy stocks, with multiple stocks doubling in value this year

As of the overnight closing of the US stock market, NuScale, a nuclear energy startup, rose by 40.01%, with a stock price of $19.07, hitting a historical high. The company's stock price has already increased fivefold this year, with a cumulative increase of 507%.

NuScale is a company dedicated to developing revolutionary small modular nuclear reactor technology, headquartered in Oregon, USA. Recently, the US Department of Energy launched the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, and NuScale is expected to complete the first SMR in the US around 2030.

Oklo closed up nearly 42%, rising nearly 44% at one point to a daily high of $16.77, approaching the historical high of $18.80 set on May 10. The company's stock price has risen by over 56% this year.

Oklo has received support from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and is expected to launch its first reactor by 2027. The company manufactures nuclear power plants using liquid metal reactor technology, with power ranging from 15 megawatts to 50 megawatts, seen as a potential solution to the extreme energy demands brought by artificial intelligence.

Overnight, other nuclear energy concept stocks also surged. Centrus Energy Corp, which provides nuclear fuel and services to the nuclear power industry, rose by over 23%, while one of the world's largest uranium producers, Cameco Corp, rose by 8%. Emerging nuclear energy company Nano Nuclear Energy rose by nearly 37%. In the nuclear power ETF sector, the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF rose by over 7% Nuclear energy stocks are also one of the best-performing sectors in the US stock market this year. The stock price of US energy giant Vistra has doubled this year, rising by 237%, making it the best-performing component stock of the S&P 500 index since 2024. Constellation Energy, the largest nuclear power plant operator in the US, ranks fourth in stock performance, with a cumulative increase of over 140% this year. Talen Energy, a nuclear energy company, has also recorded a cumulative increase of about 150% this year.

Earlier this year, Vistra executives stated during an earnings conference call that the significant demand for electricity from data centers has led to a 13% increase in forward electricity prices in the northern region of Texas for 2026 since November last year. Benefiting from this, Vistra expects its adjusted Ebitda for 2026 to exceed $6 billion, about 24% higher than market expectations.

Following Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, Amazon becomes the latest tech giant to bet on nuclear energy

Currently, nuclear energy is becoming a "hot cake" for tech giants to seize the AI market. Media reports recently stated that about one-third of US nuclear plant owners are in talks with tech companies to provide power for newly built data centers.

On October 16th, Amazon signed three nuclear power supply agreements in one go, becoming a new tech company supporting the development of nuclear energy.

The company signed an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to invest over $500 million in developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to power the cloud computing platform AWS. In addition, it reached agreements with utility alliance Energy Northwest and other companies to support the development and funding of SMRs.

Previously, Google, Oracle, and Microsoft have also coincidentally entered the field of betting on nuclear energy:

• On October 14th, Google signed a power purchase agreement with a US nuclear power company to support SMR's "fast and safe" power supply.
• In September, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison announced that the company is designing a data center that is expected to require over 1 gigawatt of power, which will be powered by three small nuclear reactors.
• In September, Microsoft reached an agreement with the largest nuclear reactor operator in the US, Constellation Energy, which agreed to sell all the electricity from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which the company plans to restart, to Microsoft to provide energy for its AI data centers with huge power needs.

According to previous analysis by CCTV News, in recent years, a new wave of artificial intelligence has swept the globe, and the energy consumption issues behind it are becoming increasingly prominent. Large tech companies are seeking solutions, with nuclear energy seen as a more stable power source than solar and wind energy, leading many tech companies to place high hopes on it