Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB) became the latest tech giant to provide support for the nuclear industry, UBS energy analysts noted.
Following Google, Amazon and Microsoft announcements about nuclear power for their data centres, the Instagram and WhatsApp owner said it will release a request for proposals "to identify nuclear energy developers to help us meet our AI innovation and sustainability objectives".
Mark Zuckerberg's company also commented that it wants to "partner with others across the industry to bring new nuclear energy to the grid".
Partners would need to provide the permitting, design, engineering, finance, construction, and operate the power plants, it said.
Meta is targeting 1-4 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the US, for delivery in the early 2030s.
UBS said Meta's announcement was a departure from other tech companies, as it did not specify any particular design of power plant.
"Instead, the goal appears to be sending a clear demand signal, and identifying developers to accelerate nuclear build out", with Meta aiming to achieve "material cost reductions by deploying multiple units".
UBS said the use of the word 'multiple' is important, "as a significant problem with recent nuclear construction, ex-China, has been lack of scale benefits leading to significant delays and cost overruns".
Meta's suggested it aims to treat nuclear in the same vein as its earlier success with the renewable industry that allowed the company and clean energy developers to reach their "respective goals".
Looking to hear from developers of both small modular reactors (such as those being developed by Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC) and large reactor developers, proposals are due in February '25.