Nuclear Stocks Rally on Nvidia CEO's AI Power Endorsement
Jensen Huang's comments spotlight AI's immense energy needs, fueling investor interest in reactor firms like Oklo and NuScale.
Shares of nuclear energy companies surged on Wednesday after Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang identified the sector as the essential solution to satiate artificial intelligence’s voracious demand for electricity.
In afternoon trading, shares of Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO), a developer of compact fission reactors backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, jumped 13.5% to $109.60. NuScale Power Corp. (NYSE: SMR), another firm focused on small modular reactors (SMRs), also saw its stock climb 13.5% to $22.85, reflecting a broad investor pivot towards the sector.
The rally was ignited by Huang’s comments during a widely followed appearance on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' podcast. He argued that the primary constraint for AI's expansion is no longer processing power, but energy. "You can't just assume the electricity will be there," Huang stated, predicting that technology companies would begin deploying their own small nuclear reactors within the next decade to power their sprawling data centers.
Huang's endorsement provides a powerful tailwind to an investment thesis that has been quietly building: that AI's growth is fundamentally linked to a new era of energy production. The electricity required to train and operate large AI models is immense, with global data center electricity consumption projected to double to nearly 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. This surge is creating an urgent need for clean, reliable, and geographically concentrated power sources—a profile that advanced nuclear reactors are uniquely positioned to fill.
"This is the smartest way to solve it," Huang remarked on the podcast, giving a significant vote of confidence from a figure at the epicenter of the AI revolution. His comments shift the narrative from nuclear energy being merely an option to being a strategic necessity for technological growth.
The market's reaction focused on next-generation nuclear companies. Oklo, which went public earlier this year through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company co-founded by OpenAI's Sam Altman, aims to build small-scale reactors that can be deployed directly where power is needed, such as at data center campuses. The explicit backing from prominent AI leaders like Altman and the implicit endorsement from Huang highlights a growing symbiosis between the two sectors.
NuScale Power, a pioneer in the SMR space, is developing scalable reactor technology designed for similar applications. While the company has faced commercialization hurdles, the validation from Nvidia's chief has renewed investor optimism about the long-term demand for its technology.
The financial and technological hurdles for advanced nuclear power remain significant, including high upfront costs, lengthy regulatory approvals, and public perception challenges. However, the sheer scale of AI's energy requirements may provide the commercial incentive needed to overcome these obstacles. As data centers currently rely on natural gas for over 40% of their power in the U.S., the push for carbon-free AI operations is forcing tech giants to actively explore alternatives. Wednesday's trading activity suggests investors believe the convergence of AI and nuclear energy is no longer a distant possibility, but an emerging reality.