Meta wants to power artificial intelligence data centers with nuclear energy

Meta is the latest company that has announced that it will use nuclear energy to provide electricity for its artificial intelligence data centers.

Nuclear energy is becoming the most popular energy source for powering the world’s data centers. Previously, Google had signed contracts with a related startup to supply electricity to its artificial intelligence data center through nuclear energy. According to Meta’s official announcement, the company will also use nuclear power to power its data centers in the United States.

Meta data centers are powered by nuclear energy

Meta announced that it is now ready to accept proposals from contractors and developers of nuclear energy centers to work on this project. Meta plans to supply between 1 and 4 gigawatts of energy through nuclear power by early 2030.

Meta says it is looking to partner with companies that have experience building small modular reactors (SMRs) or larger nuclear reactors. Also, the exact location of this nuclear power plant has not yet been determined.

The Financial Times previously reported that Meta had plans to build a nuclear power plant in recent years, but the project was shelved after a rare species of bee was discovered near the site.

Meta is not the only tech giant to use nuclear power to power its data centers. Google is seeking to provide at least 500 megawatts of nuclear power through the construction of small modular reactors, and Microsoft has announced plans to purchase a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

Along with the increase in the use of artificial intelligence and the creation of new services based on this technology, the need to build new data centers is felt, but these data centers consume a lot of electricity, and providing this amount of energy has become a challenge for companies. Apparently, from the point of view of the technology giants, the use of nuclear energy is a solution and can satisfy the insatiable thirst of data centers.