Amazon’s Nuclear Gambit: How AWS is Spending Billions to Scale SMRs for AI Dominance in 2025

Industry Adoption: Amazon AWS’s Shift from SMR Strategy to Execution Redefines the Nuclear Energy Market in 2025

The trajectory of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) adoption of nuclear energy shows a dramatic inflection point between its foundational moves in 2024 and its aggressive scaling in 2025. What began as a strategic hedge to secure future power has rapidly evolved into a market-making execution plan, driven by the insatiable energy demands of artificial intelligence. Between 2021 and 2024, Amazon’s activity was concentrated in laying the groundwork. The key event was the March 2024 acquisition of a $650 million data center powered by Talen Energy’s existing nuclear plant, a move that secured immediate, 24/7 carbon-free power. This was followed in October 2024 by a series of foundational partnership announcements with SMR developer X-energy and utilities Dominion Energy and Energy Northwest. These deals, backed by an initial $500 million investment pledge, established a clear strategic intent: to become an anchor customer for nascent Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology in key US data center regions. The goal was to send a powerful demand signal and begin the long process of de-risking first-of-a-kind nuclear projects.

In 2025, this strategic intent transformed into a full-scale industrial and financial mobilization. The variety of commercial applications expanded significantly, signaling a maturation of Amazon’s approach. The initial agreements were massively amplified: the commitment to the Cascade project in Washington tripled to a potential 960 MW, and the relationship with Talen Energy evolved into a colossal 1,920 MW power purchase agreement (PPA) valued at an estimated $20 billion through 2042. This shift from future development to long-term procurement demonstrates a new level of confidence. Furthermore, Amazon moved beyond the role of a mere customer by forming a global consortium with X-energy, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and Doosan Enerbility, aiming to mobilize $50 billion to build out the entire SMR supply chain. Technical applications also deepened, with a collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop SMR digital twins using AWS’s own AI, creating a powerful feedback loop where Amazon’s core business accelerates the very energy technology it needs to grow. This pivot from isolated project backing to orchestrating a global supply chain and co-developing the technology itself is the clearest indicator that for AWS, SMR adoption is no longer a future possibility but a present-day business imperative.

Table: Amazon AWS’s Nuclear Energy Investment Timeline

Table: Amazon AWS’s Strategic Nuclear Partnerships

Geography: Amazon AWS’s SMR Nuclear Strategy Expands from US Hubs to a Global Supply Chain

Amazon’s geographic strategy for nuclear power is evolving from domestic co-location to enabling a global supply chain. In the 2021-2024 period, activity was exclusively and strategically focused on the United States, targeting states with both major data center operations and established nuclear expertise. The acquisition of the Talen-powered data center in Pennsylvania, the SMR development agreement with Dominion Energy in Virginia’s “Data Center Alley,” and the partnership with Energy Northwest in Washington demonstrated a clear pattern: secure carbon-free power directly at the point of consumption to mitigate grid dependency and transmission challenges. This was a purely domestic play aimed at solving a regional power-sourcing problem for its most critical infrastructure hubs.

From 2025 onward, the geographic focus has both deepened in the U.S. and expanded internationally. The tripling of the planned Cascade facility in Washington and the massive PPA with Talen in Pennsylvania reinforce the importance of these domestic hubs. However, the strategy has taken on a significant global dimension. The August 2025 partnership with South Korea’s KHNP and Doosan Enerbility is not about building reactors in Korea; it’s about leveraging their world-class manufacturing and project delivery expertise to build out the SMR supply chain for deployment *inside the U.S.* This signals a shift from simply buying power to building the international industrial base needed to deliver it at scale. Furthermore, the explicit statement from AWS’s UK chief in May 2025, linking an £8 billion data center investment to the need for more nuclear power, strongly indicates that Europe, particularly the UK, is the next frontier for Amazon’s nuclear partnerships and offtake agreements. The risk is no longer just about project execution in one state, but about managing a complex global supply chain and navigating differing regulatory and political landscapes in new international markets.

Technology Maturity: Tracking Amazon AWS’s De-Risking of SMR Nuclear Technology

Amazon’s engagement with SMR technology illustrates a rapid, calculated progression from financial backing of a promising design to hands-on acceleration of its commercial and operational readiness. During the 2021–2024 period, the strategy was centered on technology selection and de-risking. By anchoring a $500 million funding round in X-energy, Amazon placed a decisive bet on its Generation IV Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor and its inherently safe TRISO fuel. At this stage, the technology was in an advanced design and pre-licensing phase with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amazon’s role was that of a powerful investor and foundational customer, providing the capital and offtake certainty needed to move the Xe-100 from blueprint to a viable commercial product. The simultaneous acquisition of the Talen campus, powered by conventional large-scale reactors, was a commercially mature move to secure immediate baseload power, serving as a practical bridge while the next-generation SMR technology matured.

The period from 2025 to today marks a shift from validating a design to accelerating its path to scalable, autonomous operation. The technology is moving from the purely theoretical to the applied. The July 2025 collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to create a digital twin of an SMR using AWS’s own cloud and AI tools is a critical validation point. This moves the technology beyond physical prototypes into advanced simulation, optimizing performance and pioneering the autonomous control systems necessary for widespread, cost-effective deployment. Furthermore, the plan to couple an AWS modular data center with the MARVEL microreactor at INL is a pilot for the ultimate goal: direct, off-grid co-location of power and demand. This flurry of activity in 2025 shows that while the Xe-100 is not yet commercial, Amazon is aggressively using its own technological prowess to shorten the R&D cycle and solve operational challenges, transforming itself from a passive investor into an active co-developer intent on speeding market timing.

SWOT Analysis: Amazon AWS’s Evolving SMR Nuclear Strategy

Forward-Looking Insights and Summary

The data from 2025 makes it clear that Amazon Web Services has moved past the point of no return in its nuclear strategy. The year ahead will be less about new strategic announcements and more about execution and tangible progress on the ambitious goals set in 2024 and 2025. For energy executives, investors, and strategists, Amazon’s activity serves as a live playbook for corporate-led energy transition, and several key signals should be monitored closely.

First and foremost is regulatory progress. The single most critical bellwether for Amazon’s SMR ambitions—and arguably for the entire US SMR industry—is the advancement of X-energy’s Xe-100 design through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing process. Any significant milestone, or delay, in the construction permit application for the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility will have a ripple effect on timelines and investor confidence. Second, watch for a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Cascade project. While Amazon has committed development funding, the multi-billion-dollar FID will be the definitive green light for construction and procurement, triggering major activity in the supply chain. Third, expect concrete SMR deployment plans to emerge in Pennsylvania, building on the expanded partnership with Talen Energy. This would mark Amazon’s first SMR initiative on the East Coast and a crucial second pillar to its deployment strategy.

Finally, with AWS leadership explicitly calling for more nuclear power to support its £8 billion UK expansion, the market should anticipate the first European partnership or PPA announcement in the coming year. Amazon is no longer just a cloud company buying clean energy; it is a vertically-integrating energy player, using its immense financial and technological power to act as a market-maker for advanced nuclear. Its success or failure in navigating the path to commercialization will fundamentally shape the future of both the data center industry and carbon-free baseload power.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Amazon investing so heavily in nuclear energy?
The primary driver is the massive and growing energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and its data centers. To power this growth and meet its carbon-free energy goals, Amazon requires a 24/7, reliable, and scalable power source that intermittent renewables cannot provide alone. Nuclear power, especially Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), offers a solution for carbon-free baseload energy to meet these needs.

Is Amazon only focused on future SMR technology, or is it using nuclear power now?
Amazon is using a dual strategy. It is securing immediate, carbon-free power from existing, conventional nuclear plants, as shown by its March 2024 acquisition of a 960 MW data center powered by Talen Energy. Simultaneously, it is making massive long-term investments to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to power its future growth.

What is the scale of Amazon’s financial commitment to nuclear power?
Amazon’s financial commitment is immense and has rapidly escalated. It began with hundreds of millions in investments in 2024 but grew significantly in 2025. This includes a massive power purchase agreement (PPA) with Talen Energy valued at an estimated $20 billion through 2042 and participation in a global consortium aiming to mobilize $50 billion to build the SMR supply chain.

What changed in Amazon’s nuclear strategy between 2024 and 2025?
In 2024, Amazon’s strategy was focused on laying the groundwork by making foundational investments and partnerships to signal demand. In 2025, this transformed into a full-scale execution plan. The key change was a shift from being a passive anchor customer to an active orchestrator, forming a global consortium to build the supply chain, signing massive long-term procurement deals, and co-developing the technology itself through projects like the SMR digital twin with INL.

Where are Amazon’s nuclear projects located?
Initially, Amazon focused on key U.S. data center hubs like Pennsylvania (with Talen Energy), Virginia (with Dominion Energy), and Washington (with Energy Northwest). In 2025, the geographic strategy expanded to become global. Amazon formed a partnership with South Korean companies to help build the U.S. supply chain and has explicitly signaled its intent to pursue nuclear power to support its data center expansion in the UK, indicating a future move into the European market.