Amazon invests in X-energy and targets 5 GW of small modular reactors by 2039

2024-10-16 · Publisher : Amazon · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

Amazon is anchor investor in a USD 500 million round for X-energy and signs with Energy Northwest a four-SMR project in Washington State, with a target of more than 5 GW in the US by 2039.

### What changes On 16 October 2024, Amazon announces a stake in advanced reactor developer **X-energy**, with the goal of deploying up to 5 GW of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United States by 2039. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund is anchor investor in a USD 500 million financing round. Amazon also signs with Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities, a project of four SMRs of about 320 MWe in Washington State, with an option to scale to 960 MWe. ### Key facts - Funding: USD 500 million round for X-energy, also with Ken Griffin, Ares Management, NGP and the University of Michigan. - Use of funds: complete reactor design and licensing, and the first phase of a TRISO-X fuel plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. - First project: four Xe-100 SMRs of about 320 MWe near the Columbia plant in Richland, with an option up to 960 MWe. - Amazon's role: funds the feasibility phase and has a right to buy the first phase's electricity. - Goal: more than 5 GW of SMRs in service in the US by 2039. ### Why it matters After buying a plant-adjacent campus in March, Amazon moves to new nuclear generation. For AWS customers, the stake is future compute capacity availability, at a time when the power connection has become the limiting factor. SMRs remain at an early stage: the 2030 to 2039 dates are goals, not delivered capacity. ### Takeaway Amazon now funds new nuclear generation to power its data centres, with a horizon of 2039.

Tags : Énergie, Datacenter, AWS, Hyperscaler, États-Unis