Meta said it reached deals that could make the technology giant one of the world’s biggest corporate buyers of nuclear energy as artificial intelligence stokes demand for new kinds of data centers near major power sources.
The Menlo Park, California-based owner of Facebook and Instagram signed 20-year contracts to purchase power from three nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The power plants, operated by Vistra, will power Meta's AI data centers in Ohio. No financial terms were disclosed.
Meta also joined with TerraPower, a nuclear developer backed by billionaire Bill Gates, and Santa Clara, California-based Oklo to support new reactor projects that could open in coming years.
In total, the projects could bring 6.6 gigawatts of power online — enough to power about 5 million homes — as the company expands its data center network across the United States to support its advanced AI applications.
Tech giants Amazon, Microsoft, Google and OpenAI have announced power purchase agreements with nuclear firms as they tap all available sources to address the grid-draining energy needs resulting from the proliferation of data centers.
In one example, Microsoft signed a 20-year power-purchase agreement with Constellation in 2024 that would restart the former Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.
Power investments surge
Private-equity and commercial real estate giants such as investor Blackstone and Prologis, the world’s largest industrial real estate owner and developer, are also putting billions of dollars into nuclear and other source to power data centers.
“Our agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo and Constellation make Meta one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history," Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in the company's announcement. "Nuclear energy will help power our AI future, strengthen our country’s energy infrastructure and provide clean, reliable electricity for everyone."
Kaplan said the projects will create "thousands of skilled jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania," extend the life of Vistra's three existing nuclear plants and speed up the development of new reactor technologies.
Oklo will use funds from the Meta agreement to secure nuclear fuel and start development of a 1.2-gigawatt energy campus on 206 acres in Pike County, Ohio.
Pre-construction planning is set to start this year, with the first phase of Oklo's energy campus targeted to come online as early as 2030.
The Ohio project also demonstrates the potential of nuclear power for creating jobs and other economic development, Urvi Parekh, Meta's head of global energy, said in a separate statement from Oklo.
"This project will create jobs, spur local innovation and advance American leadership in energy technology," Parekh said.