Meta Emerges as the Top US Corporate Purchaser of Nuclear Power
On January 9, 2026, Meta Platforms announced groundbreaking nuclear energy deals, potentially making it the largest corporate buyer of nuclear power in the history of the United States.
The social media behemoth has entered into agreements with three leading nuclear energy companies: Vistra, TerraPower, and Oklo. These deals could yield up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035, which is equivalent to the electricity required to power nearly 5 million homes. The agreements encompass 20-year power purchase commitments from Vistra’s existing nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, in addition to support for new small modular reactors (SMRs) being developed by TerraPower (backed by Bill Gates) and Oklo (backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman).
With these agreements, Meta aims to secure a reliable, carbon-free baseload power source for its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure. This includes the Prometheus supercluster under construction in New Albany, Ohio, which is slated to be operational in 2026. The new reactors from Oklo are expected to start supplying power as early as 2030, with TerraPower’s facilities aiming for 2032.
The scale of this energy procurement underscores the immense power requirements of AI development. Tech giants are in a race to secure electricity sources for their data center operations, all while adhering to their climate commitments.