Why are AI companies turning to nuclear power?

Google recently announced that it has signed a deal with startup Kairos Power, a developer of small modular reactors, to power data centers and artificial intelligence. Last month, Microsoft reached an agreement with Constellation Energy to revive a decommissioned reactor at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. However, why do these companies go to nuclear energy? In this article, we examine this issue.

Google previously announced that it will launch its first nuclear reactor in 2030, then more reactors will be activated by 2035. Of course, Google isn’t the only company looking to nuclear power to fulfill its AI ambitions. Last month, Microsoft signed a contract with US energy company Constellation to activate the reactor, which had been idle for five years.

In short, it can be said that the technology giants have turned to nuclear energy to provide electricity to the data centers needed to train and run their artificial intelligence models.

The reason why technology companies turn to nuclear energy

Technology companies are under pressure to find energy sources to power their data centers, which build modern AI infrastructure. Also, the cost of electricity and maintenance of servers equipped with graphics processors are generally very expensive; For this reason, some developers rent these servers.

Global electricity consumption in data centers, the artificial intelligence sector and the cryptocurrency market is expected to grow from 460 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2022 to more than 1,000 terawatt hours in 2026, according to a research report by the International Energy Agency.

On the other hand, researchers from the University of California published a study last year that showed that ChatGPT consumes 500 milliliters of water for every 10 to 50 requests; Considering that more than 250 million people around the world use ChatGPT every week, it is possible to estimate how much water and electricity this one chatbot consumes.

Generative artificial intelligence seems to be very popular and revolutionary right now, but big tech companies have much bigger plans for this technology. Certainly, one of their reliable options for providing electricity is nuclear energy.

Of course, the use of nuclear energy is not without limits. Many climate activists oppose such sources; Because this energy causes various environmental damages. This energy is called “clean” energy; Because it does not produce carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases when generating electricity, but the fact is that it is not an acceptable alternative to renewable sources such as wind and solar energy, and it leaves dangerous waste.