On July 23, the White House unveiled Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan, a sweeping initiative designed to solidify US leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) while securing the energy infrastructure required to power its growth. The plan outlines more than 90 policy actions focused on three key pillars: Accelerating Innovation, Building American AI Infrastructure, and Leading in International Diplomacy and Security.
The plan, which builds on a series of executive orders US President Donald Trump issued in May aimed at accelerating nuclear energy deployment to support AI development, seeks to ensure the US has the reliable energy infrastructure necessary to support AI systems, particularly as demand for data centres and computing power surges amid intensifying AI competition with China.
This growing nuclear demand will necessitate securing a steady, domestic supply of uranium — what Bruce Lane, managing director of GTI Energy Ltd (ASX:GTR, OTC:GTRIF), called an “extremely positive and supportive” development for the US uranium sector.
Policies driving nuclear energy expansion and uranium demand
The AI Action Plan builds on earlier executive orders aimed at rejuvenating the US nuclear energy sector and pushing for the rapid deployment of advanced nuclear technologies. These include an order focused on next-generation reactors, particularly small modular reactors (SMRs).
Lane noted that this shift in policy aligns with the broader push for energy security already in motion under the second Trump administration.
“There’s a huge gap if the US wants to shore up its strategic position and have domestic supply of uranium and, critically, conversion and enrichment,” he said. “Those issues are already recognised, and these executive orders are meant to help all facets of the supply chain, including opening up permitting and trying to speed up the development of new mines and new processing for uranium itself.
“What the AI executive orders are doing is adding another layer of urgency and focus on what is already a very well understood challenge.”
Lane pointed out that the US currently supplies a small fraction of the total uranium needed to meet the annual demand, which sits at around 47 to 50 million pounds.
“The US is supplying only about a million pounds a year, and that number has to grow,” he said. “What we’re starting to see is that the sector is getting some attention, some investment, some support from the government, after not getting much support for decades.”
Structural uranium deficit and the impact of AI
This policy shift comes at a time when the global uranium market is already facing a significant structural deficit. Goldman Sachs projects a shortfall of 130 million pounds by 2040, a deficit exacerbated by the growing global reliance on nuclear power for energy security and decarbonisation efforts.
The rise of AI technologies, which demand high-output, continuous energy, will only increase pressure on global uranium supply chains.
“We’re not at that point yet where energy is free – we’re still very much in that phase where energy is the bottleneck,” Lane said. “Even if nuclear maintains just 18-20% of its share of the growth, we’ll see a massive increase in nuclear power — and a massive increase in requirement for uranium.”
The policy shift has already garnered attention from major players in the uranium sector, with US developer Snow Lake Resources lauding the AI Action Plan’s focus on nuclear energy, noting that, in combination with the executive orders targeting the domestic production of uranium, it will help fast-track development timelines for the company’s Pine Ridge project.
However, Lane also pointed to the practical challenges facing uranium producers. Despite the positive shift in policy, the uranium sector still requires policies supporting long-term price commitments and financial backing to unlock new projects.
“What the industry needs for long-term, committed supply is to be underpinned by long-term contracts at a high-enough incentive price for everyone to make some money along the way,” he said. “And those conditions don’t really exist for new-start projects.”
A growing opportunity for uranium producers
The AI Action Plan signals a pivotal shift in the focus on nuclear energy, with uranium playing a central role in powering AI’s future infrastructure. Lane points out that this is not just a policy change, but a moment of clarity for the uranium sector as a key part of what is ultimately the conversion of electrons into intelligence.
“This AI focus is really that massive signal to the world that the US is going to do everything in its power to stay at the forefront and continue to lead AI,” he said. “But, down at the ground level at home in the US, it’s all about where you get the electrons from — where does the fuel come from? Nuclear and uranium have a central role to play in that.”