Taking the Investment Pulse: Q2 2025

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Markets & Finance

Kayley Deaton

August 28, 2025

Morgan Stanley recently projected $2.2 trillion of investment in new nuclear through 2050—that’s a 40% increase from just last year’s projection. This has largely been fueled by growing government support (at home and abroad) and an ever-increasing demand from energy-intensive industries.

Big Tech continues to walk the walk by partnering up with utility companies and nuclear startups…while nations like Denmark, Belgium, and Greece are changing their tune and taking action. Governors, too, are making bold moves—like Kathy Hochul’s call for one gigawatt of new nuclear capacity in New York.

Let’s break down last quarter.

Trends

Regulatory Momentum: We saw license extensions—like the one approved for Duke Energy’s Oconee Nuclear Power Plant—from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Canada’s regulatory body approved its first small modular reactor (SMR) for construction, TVA became the first U.S. utility company to submit a construction permit application for an SMR, NuScale received expedited NRC approval on its second reactor design, the NRC published an 18-month construction permit review schedule for X-energy’s SMR project with Dow, and Three Mile Island Unit 1’s restart is a year ahead of schedule thanks to a faster-than-expected grid connection.

Big Tech Deals: You’re probably tired of hearing about it, but we’re not! Big Tech made various nuclear announcements this quarter: Google partnered with Elementl Power to develop three nuclear sites, Meta signed a 20-year PPA for nuclear power from Constellation, Amazon expanded their deal with Talen Energy, and Palantir is developing AI software for nuclear reactor construction.

Fundraising: The popularity wasn’t contained to Silicon Valley. Nuclear was the word on the [Wall] street, too, and it came in the form of capital fundraising: $50 million for General Matter, $50 million for Zeno Power, $51 million for The Nuclear Company, $165 million for Radiant Industries, $400 million in a share offering from Oklo, $650 million from investors like Nvidia for TerraPower.

We invest ahead. I think the world is going to have to build new technologies. I believe nuclear is a big part of that particularly as we look 10 years out.

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman