Meta is betting that the future of artificial intelligence will be built on nuclear power, not just more solar farms and wind turbines. The company has signed a series of long term agreements that could unlock up to 6.6 gigawatts of carbon free electricity for its data centers, and Mark Zuckerberg is framing the move as Essential to keeping America ahead in the global AI race. The scale of the commitment, and the way it intertwines energy, industrial policy, and geopolitics, marks a turning point in how Big Tech thinks about power.
Inside Meta’s unprecedented 6.6 GW nuclear play
At the core of Meta’s strategy is a plan to secure up to 6.6 G of nuclear capacity dedicated to its AI infrastructure, a figure that would make the company one of the largest private buyers of atomic energy in the United States. Meta has disclosed that these projects are meant to provide 24/7 “firm” power, the kind of always on electricity that advanced data centers need but that intermittent renewables struggle to guarantee. In practical terms, this is a hedge against both grid instability and the risk that power shortages could throttle the growth of AI workloads just as they become central to Meta’s products and advertising business.
The company is not relying on a single supplier. It has struck agreements with a trio of nuclear partners, including Oklo, TerraPower, and Vistra, to build or expand reactors that will feed its data centers over the next decade. Reporting on the deals describes Meta as making nuclear reactor history by lining up multiple projects at once, rather than waiting for one plant to come online before committing to another, a sign of how urgent the company sees its AI power needs. By spreading its bets across different technologies and locations, Meta is trying to lock in capacity while also giving itself flexibility if one project faces delays or regulatory hurdles, a pattern that is already visible in the way it has structured its reactor partnerships.
Oklo Aurora and the new nuclear supply chain
One of the most striking pieces of the plan is Meta’s agreement with Oklo to support 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear energy development in southern Ohio. The deal is expected to lay the foundation for multiple Oklo Aurora powerhouses, compact reactors that are designed to be built in series rather than as one off mega projects. Meta’s own description of the arrangement emphasizes that these units will directly support new data center capacity for Meta, effectively tying the growth of its AI infrastructure to the rollout of next generation nuclear technology in the Midwest. The company is not just buying power, it is underwriting a new class of reactors that could become a template for other industrial customers.
The Ohio projects are also framed as a regional development story, with expectations that constructing multiple Oklo Aurora units will create thousands of jobs and anchor a new energy ecosystem around Meta’s facilities. That framing matters politically, because it positions nuclear not only as a climate solution but as a source of local employment and tax base in communities that have often been left behind by the digital economy. By aligning its AI ambitions with promises of construction work, long term plant operations, and supporting industries, Meta is trying to make the case that its nuclear push is a public good as well as a corporate necessity, a narrative that is reinforced in the company’s own descriptions of the.
Vistra, TerraPower, and the 20 year power backbone
Beyond Oklo, Meta has locked in long term access to existing and planned reactors through deals with Vistra and TerraPower. The company has signed 20 year agreements to buy nuclear power from Vistra plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, giving it a predictable supply of electricity that is insulated from short term swings in wholesale power prices. Those contracts are paired with commitments to support plant expansions and new reactor development, which together are expected to deliver energy from six future units as they come online. The structure of these arrangements shows Meta acting almost like a utility scale anchor tenant, providing the revenue certainty that can make nuclear projects financeable in the first place, as reflected in the KEY TAKEAWAYS of the deals.
These commitments are not abstract. Meta has said that its Prometheus AI supercluster, expected to come online sometime in 2026, will consume at least 1 gigawatt of power on its own, a staggering load for a single computing complex. The nuclear agreements are explicitly designed to feed that demand, with the company stating that the projects could unlock a total of 6.6 gigawatts by 2034 as additional reactors are built. In effect, Meta is building a bespoke power backbone for Prometheus and its successor facilities, one that is meant to be both carbon free and shielded from the kind of grid constraints that have already slowed data center construction in parts of the United States. That logic is spelled out in Meta’s own explanation of how Prometheus will be powered.
Zuckerberg’s “Essential” bet on American AI leadership
Mark Zuckerberg is not shy about the stakes he sees in this nuclear turn. In public comments about the deals, he has described the nuclear buildout as Essential to securing America’s position as a global leader in AI, explicitly linking Meta’s energy strategy to national competitiveness. He has also tied the power push to his broader vision of AI “superintelligence,” arguing that the systems he wants to build will require orders of magnitude more computing power than today’s models and that only a massive expansion of reliable, carbon free energy can support that trajectory. According to reporting on his remarks, Zuckerberg’s framing casts Meta’s nuclear commitments as both a business imperative and a patriotic duty to keep America at the forefront of AI.
Inside Meta, that argument is echoed by Joel Kaplan, the company’s Meta Chief Global Affairs executive, who has said the nuclear push will help the United States win the AI race against China. Kaplan’s comments make clear that the company sees energy security as a strategic asset in a world where AI capabilities are increasingly intertwined with geopolitical power. By locking in decades of nuclear supply, Meta is signaling that it does not want its AI roadmap to be constrained by the same grid and permitting bottlenecks that have slowed other infrastructure projects, and it is inviting policymakers to view its investments as part of a broader national effort to outpace China in advanced computing.
Market shockwaves and the new AI energy politics
Financial markets have already reacted to Meta’s move, with shares of several nuclear related companies jumping after the deals were announced. Investors read the agreements as a signal that Big Tech is ready to underwrite a new wave of reactor construction, not just buy renewable credits on the margins. Reporting on the market response notes that Meta Platforms’ decision to turn to nuclear power for its AI ambitions sent a basket of nuclear stocks higher, including suppliers and reactor developers that stand to benefit from a pipeline of long term corporate demand. The reaction underscores how a single buyer with Meta’s scale can reshape expectations for an entire sector, a dynamic captured in coverage of how Meta Platforms is influencing nuclear valuations.
The deals also highlight a broader shift in how data center operators think about their role in the energy system. Meta has cut a trio of agreements to power its artificial intelligence data centers, securing enough energy to light up the equivalent of millions of homes, with first delivery expected as early as 2032. That scale forces regulators, utilities, and communities to grapple with the trade offs of tying local grids to a single corporate customer, even one promising jobs and tax revenue. As Meta’s own announcement of its nuclear projects makes clear, the company is positioning itself as a partner in Power American Leadership in AI Innovation, not just a buyer of electrons, a stance that will shape debates over siting, safety, and who ultimately benefits from the Unlocking Up of new nuclear capacity.
Prometheus, Ray-Ban, and the consumer face of nuclear AI
For most users, the nuclear buildout will be invisible, but its effects will be felt in the products Meta ships. The Prometheus AI supercluster is designed to power everything from recommendation algorithms to generative assistants that could live inside Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s hardware experiments, including the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses that he has already begun to showcase. The company has said that Prometheus is expected to come online sometime in 2026 and will serve its goal of building increasingly capable AI systems that can operate across social apps, messaging, and mixed reality devices. The nuclear deals are, in that sense, the buried infrastructure behind a consumer facing push to weave AI into everyday experiences, a connection that surfaces in reporting on how Meta CEO Mark plans to power Prometheus.
From an energy policy perspective, Meta’s move could become a template for other hyperscale operators that are running out of patience with congested grids and slow permitting for transmission lines. Analysts already describe the company as signing multi gigawatt nuclear deals for AI data centers that will be built over the next decade, with detailed breakdowns of how much capacity is tied to each partner and site. Those figures, reported in coverage of how META is structuring its contracts, suggest that the line between tech company and energy buyer is blurring fast. If Meta’s bet pays off, the next generation of AI services, from chatbots inside Instagram to real time translation in WhatsApp, will be quietly running on electrons from reactors in Ohio and Pennsylvania, secured through the trio of nuclear power deals that Meta has now put at the center of its AI strategy.
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