AI Power Boom Turns Nuclear Stocks Into the Market’s New Obsession
Oklo’s shares have surged more than 1,000% in the past year, while NuScale Power’s have tripled in value.
Centrifuges at Centrus Energy Corp.'s uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.
Photographer: David Dominguez/Bloomberg
Nano Nuclear Energy Inc. has no revenue, no license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and no operating power plant. Yet investors have driven its valuation past $2.3 billion, a figure that may be built more on optimism than fundamentals.
The company is being lifted by Wall Street’s latest obsession: the idea that artificial intelligence will require vast new sources of electricity. As tech giants race to build data centers capable of running machine-learning systems, they’re driving up power contracts and making anything linked to nuclear look like a ticket to the future.
The enthusiasm stretches beyond a single stock. Backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Oklo Inc.’s shares have soared more than 1,000% in the past year, while NuScale Power Corp. and Nano Nuclear have both tripled in value. Centrus Energy Corp., which sells reactor fuel, is up over 400%.