Google wants to address data center power demands with nuclear power

Google has signed a new deal with Kairos Power to use small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to power its energy-hungry artificial intelligence (AI) data centers as the world begins to confront the consequences of widespread AI adoption and a grid that’s struggling to keep up.

The partnership will be the first corporate agreement involving the purchase of nuclear energy from multiple SMRs, and is set to begin operation by the end of the decade.

With the first reactor online by 2030, Google plans to enlist additional reactors over the following five years.

Google to use nuclear for its data centers

In the nearly two years that have followed the public preview launch of ChatGPT, which is credited with kickstarting widespread interest in artificial intelligence, tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Amazon have been forced to rethink their strategies as data centers’ power consumption and use of other natural resources ...