Amazon, Google tap into nuclear power to fuel data centers and AI push

Amazon connected Wednesday announced plans to put successful atomic powerfulness accumulation to substance its information centers with cleanable energy, a cardinal portion of the e-commerce giant’s propulsion to grow AI-powered services.

“Nuclear vigor is safe, reliable, and tin assistance conscionable the vigor needs of our customers for decades to come,” said Kevin Miller, Amazon Web Services’ vice president of planetary information centers successful a statement. The institution has a extremity to execute net-zero c — wherever the magnitude of greenhouse gases produced equals the magnitude removed from the ambiance — crossed its operations by 2040.

Amazon is the latest tech elephantine to crook to atomic powerfulness arsenic a root of cleanable vigor arsenic the request for much powerfulness successful information centers grows. Earlier this week, Google announced its concern with California-based Kairos Power, successful which Google plans to bargain powerfulness produced from tiny atomic reactors built by Kairos. The archetypal reactor is scheduled to beryllium moving by 2030.

And past period Microsoft announced an statement with the proprietor of the shuttered Three Mile Island atomic works successful Pennsylvania, successful which the installation would beryllium brought backmost online to nutrient vigor for Microsoft.

Amazon is partnering with Dominion Energy Virginia, Energy Northwest and Talen Energy to research caller efforts to beforehand atomic energy, including the improvement of smaller and faster atomic reactors. The institution is besides investing successful Maryland-based X-Energy Reactor Company, which announced connected Wednesday it’s raised $500 cardinal successful financing.

Robert Blue, chair, president and main enforcement of Dominion Energy, called the concern an “important measurement forward” that would substance the improvement of “carbon-free powerfulness procreation successful Virginia,” according to a news release from the company.

The partnerships travel arsenic tech companies look much demands for energy due to the fact that of the contention to physique much AI services that tin make text, images and different content. Tech giants, which already put successful star and upwind technologies, are searching for caller sources of cleanable vigor amid increasing unit to bounds the greenhouse state emissions they nutrient arsenic they grow their AI products. These gasses trap vigor successful the atmosphere, contributing to rising temperatures.

A query connected OpenAI’s ChatGPT, connected average, requires astir 10 times arsenic overmuch energy to process arsenic a Google search, according to Goldman Sachs. Analysts for the steadfast estimation that the powerfulness needed to tally information centers, wherever large-scale computing operations are done to enactment a assortment of tech services, volition turn 160% by 2030.

Total energy depletion of information centers could scope much than 1,000 terawatt-hours successful 2026, much than doubling the usage successful 2022, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency.

Amazon’s announcement drew praise from lawmakers and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm arsenic the United States pursues a extremity of being wholly babelike connected cleanable energy by 2035.

In July, Amazon said it deed its extremity of powering its planetary operations, including its information centers, with 100% renewable vigor successful 2023, 7 years up of its people of 2030.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.