X-energy raises $ 700 million for nuclear reactor expansion projects in the US
X-energy, a developer of nuclear reactors, announced on Monday that it had completed a $700m financing round led Jane Street. The funding will be used to expand the company's supply chain and its commercial pipeline.
Why it's important
After years of stagnation the U.S. Nuclear industry is experiencing a renaissance, driven primarily by the surging demand for power from so-called Hyperscalers who operate massive cloud computing infrastructure to manage increasing AI processing.
AI is boosting U.S. electricity demand for the very first time in decades.
Amazon.com led a funding round earlier this year in which X Energy raised $700 millions to finish the reactor design, licensing and construction of a facility for fuel production.
CONTEXT
Small modular reactors can be more cost-effective and compact than full-sized nuclear reactors, which often take years to construct.
X-energy has been working with Dow, Amazon and Centrica on projects to develop an advanced small nuclear reactor and a specialized advanced fuel.
By the Numbers
X-energy has said that it will use the proceeds of this round to support its order books totaling more than 11 gigawatts - 144 advanced small-modular reactors (SMR).
The company added that new investors Hood River Capital Management (Point72), ARK Invest (ARK Invest), Hood River Capital Management (Galvanize), Reaves Asset Management, and XTX Ventures were included in the round of funding.
The list also included current investors Ares Management Funds, Corner Capitals, Emerson Collectives, NGP, and Segra Capital Management. (Reporting by Dharna Bafna in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
(source: Reuters)
