Amazon, Google sign pledge to support tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050

Shale company Occidental and Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp also added their names to the pledge [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Major companies such as Amazon and Google on Wednesday signed a pledge to support the goal of at least tripling the world’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050, on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

Shale company Occidental and Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp also added their names to the pledge.

“We are truly at the beginning of a new industry,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Reuters in an interview at the CERAWeek conference on Tuesday.

The pledge is expected to gain more support in the coming months from industries including maritime, aviation and oil and gas, said the World Nuclear Association (WNA), the nuclear industry group that facilitated the pledge, in a press release.

It adds on to the vow from over 30 countries, which also aimed to triple capacity by 2050 in 2023.

Nuclear energy, a source of clean power, generates 9% of the world’s electricity from 439 power reactors, according to WNA.

It has also become a compelling solution for power-guzzling data centers, with Big Tech firms already having signed multiple billion-dollar deals with utilities.

In January last year, prices of uranium oxide, which is used in nuclear technology, hit their highest in over 16 years due to supply uncertainty and higher demand, having gained momentum in 2021 when disruptions caused by COVID-19 lockdowns hit supplies.

Despite the demand, its supply is still constrained as global uranium production is heavily concentrated in Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia, accounting for around two-thirds of global output in 2022, according to WNA.

As of early 2025, the world had only around 411 nuclear power reactors operating, with a combined capacity of 371 gigawatts.

Amazon, which says it has spent over $1 billion on nuclear energy projects and technologies, is exploring small modular reactor projects as well.

Meta and Google are also looking into the nascent technology.