CNBC's Diana Olick joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Amazon's $500 million nuclear investment.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced an investment exceeding $500 million in small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) projects across three initiatives. The company has partnered with Dominion Energy to explore SMR development near the North Anna nuclear power station in Virginia and with Energy Northwest for projects in Washington state. AWS is also leading a $500 million financing round for Xenergy, a company specializing in SMR reactors and fuel. The move comes as AWS anticipates a significant increase in power demand driven by the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence operations, with company leadership citing the limitations of wind and solar to meet these needs. The U.S. Department of Energy has also made $900 million available for SMR deployment, supporting the trend of major tech companies investing in nuclear energy to secure clean and reliable power for future growth. AWS expects the SMR projects to become operational within five to ten years, distinguishing its approach from other tech firms by directly investing in the construction of new nuclear infrastructure.

AWS CEO on Amazon's $500 million small modular reactors investment

Amazon, the latest tech giant to make a big investment in nuclear energy in hopes of supplying the power to fuel its AI ambitions. Diana Olick joins us now live from Amazon's HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia. Diana, I was just talking about Google and Kairos. It feels like a revival and, you know, lots of investment into the technology here. Yeah, exactly, Deirdre. Amazon Web Services is investing more than half a billion dollars in nuclear energy across three different projects. Here in Virginia, home to nearly half of all the data centers in the U.S., AWS signed an agreement with Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR, or Small Modular Nuclear Reactor, near Dominion's existing North Anna nuclear power station. I asked AWS CEO Matt Garman why the push to nuclear. We're looking forward, and we see the need for gigawatts of power in the coming years, and there's not going to be enough wind and solar projects to be able to meet the needs, and so nuclear is a great opportunity. Also, the technology is really advancing to a place with SMRs, where there's going to be a new technology that's going to be safe, that's going to be easy to manufacture in a much smaller form factor. SMRs are an advanced kind of nuclear reactor with a smaller physical footprint, allowing them to be built closer to the grid. They also have faster build times than traditional reactors. Amazon also announced an agreement with utility company Energy Northwest to invest in the development of SMRs in Washington state. As part of that, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund announced it is the lead anchor in a $500 million financing round for Xenergy, a developer of SMR reactors and fuel, which will provide the parts and nuclear fuel for that project. At the Amazon presser this morning, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced $900 million in DOE funding is now available for those looking to deploy SMRs. We want these data centers to be built in the United States for a variety of reasons, including national security reasons. We want these to be built in the United States. And we know we need additional power to be able to do that, and we want that power to be clean power. And as we said, Amazon is just the latest in a line of big tech companies investing in nuclear energy to power all that AI that we can't stop talking about, guys. Diana, I'm so fascinated with this story. I mean, like we mentioned, it was Google last week, and there's an important distinction here, right? This isn't like what Microsoft is doing at Three Mile Island. This is developing the technology to get nuclear energy in a different way. So that's going to take time, right? And this isn't a sure bet? Well, I wouldn't say it isn't a sure bet. They expect it's a sure bet. They're going to be developing these small reactors, and it'll take about five to ten years to get them all online for this particular project. The difference between what some of the other tech giants are doing is that Amazon is actually investing in that hardware, in those small nuclear reactors to get them built. They already have agreements with utility companies, whereas Microsoft, as you said, is looking toward Three Mile Island, which exists already. And Google is buying nuclear power, not necessarily investing in building these units. So they will come online at some point between, again, Garmin said, about five to ten years. Yeah, it could lead to another group of nuclear stocks, too, in the technology side rising. Diana, thank you so much.

Negotiators between Hamas and Israel will begin meetings in Cairo on Monday (October 6) for the release of the remaining 20 hostages and a prisoner swap.  There is a lot of pressure on both sides to get a deal done.

Cairo

Middle East Conflict

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Tokyo

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

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Portland

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Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison on two prostitution-related charges. It follows a roughly two-month-long trial where Combs was acquitted on more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Manhattan

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Sochi

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Chernihiv

Ukraine Invasion

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Doha

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Breakdown