Amazon on Wednesday said it has a plan to feed its growing need for power: investing in small nuclear reactors. The announcement comes just two days after Google said it’s pursuing a similar path by purchasing nuclear energy from Kairos Power.
The tech giants are seeking new sources of carbon-free electricity to meet surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence, with their plans coming after Microsoft said last month that it will buy energy from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
All three companies have been investing in solar and wind technologies, which make electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions. Now they say they need to go further in the search for clean electricity to meet both demand and their own commitments to cut emissions.
The tech partnerships to buy nuclear power could be a “marriage made in heaven,” noted Tim Winter, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “Big Tech wants power to …