Oklo Shares Surge on Meta Nuclear Energy Partnership
The tech giant is backing Oklo's development of a 1.2 GW advanced fission power campus to meet the energy demands of its data centers, a major validation for the nuclear startup.
Shares of Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO), the advanced fission company co-founded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, surged in pre-market trading Friday after announcing a significant partnership with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). The social media giant has signed an agreement to explore having Oklo develop and supply power from its compact nuclear reactors, sending a powerful signal about the tech industry's desperate search for clean, reliable energy to power the artificial intelligence boom.
Under the terms outlined in a press release, the two companies are collaborating on the potential development of a 1.2-gigawatt (GW) clean power campus in Pike County, Ohio. This facility would support Meta's extensive data center operations in the region. Crucially, the agreement includes provisions for Meta to prepay for power and provide direct funding to enhance project certainty for Oklo's Aurora powerhouse deployment. This upfront financial commitment significantly de-risks the project for Oklo and accelerates its development timeline.
"Meta's funding commitment is a significant step in advancing nuclear technology," said Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo. Urvi Parekh, Meta's head of global energy, added that the agreement supports the company's operations, including its AI supercluster in New Albany, Ohio, and will help advance American leadership in energy technology.
The deal represents a major validation for Oklo's business model and its micro-reactor technology. The company, which went public via a SPAC merger, is developing small-scale, advanced fission power plants designed to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy. While traditional nuclear plants are massive infrastructure projects, Oklo’s “Aurora” powerhouse is designed for a much smaller footprint, making it a potentially ideal solution for powering dedicated data centers.
The partnership highlights a critical and growing challenge for the technology sector: the colossal energy consumption of data centers, which has been supercharged by the rise of generative AI. As companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft race to build out their AI capabilities, their need for stable, carbon-free, baseload power has ballooned beyond what intermittent sources like wind and solar can alone provide. Nuclear energy's ability to run 24/7 makes it an increasingly attractive option for tech giants racing to meet both their operational needs and their net-zero emissions goals.
Following the announcement, Oklo's stock saw a pre-market surge of nearly 20%. While the stock settled around $97.60 in the previous session, the news brings renewed focus to the company, which has a 52-week trading range between $17.42 and $193.84 and a market capitalization of approximately $14.9 billion. The market's enthusiastic response was echoed by analysts, with Dan Ives of Wedbush describing the announcement as a "significant milestone" for both Oklo and the broader nuclear energy industry, as reported by MarketWatch.
Despite the optimism, the path forward for Oklo involves a lengthy and complex regulatory process. The development of nuclear power in the United States is strictly governed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and bringing a new reactor design from concept to operation is a multi-year endeavor. The agreement with Meta is a powerful catalyst, but Oklo must still navigate the intricate licensing and environmental approvals required for construction and operation. The projected timeline reflects this reality, with pre-construction slated for 2026 and initial operations targeted for 2030, with the full 1.2 GW capacity expected by 2034.
Still, this partnership marks one of the most significant commitments by a major technology firm to next-generation nuclear power. It establishes a potential model for how the largest energy users can directly fund the development of new, clean generation, providing a crucial demand signal to the advanced nuclear sector. For Oklo, the backing of a customer with the scale and energy appetite of Meta provides a clear path to commercialization and a powerful endorsement of its vision for the future of energy.