Meta turns to nuclear energy to power its AI data centers

Meta platforms has joined other tech giants in the quest for nuclear energy to support its high energy-consuming data centers.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led technology giant sent out a request for proposals this week to find nuclear developers to support its AI innovation and sustainability objectives.

Meta wants an all-rounder nuclear developer

Meta, based in California and runs social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, aims for nuclear generation capacity in the US of between one and four gigawatts.

The company has acknowledged the need for a sustainable energy supply to keep the world connected and maintain innovations.

“Advancing the technologies that will build the future of human connection, including the next wave of AI innovation requires electric grids to expand and embrace new sources of reliable, clean and renewable energy.”

Meta.

The goal for Meta is to sign a deal with a nuclear developer who is capable of permitting, designing, engineering, financing, constructing, and operating the power plants. According to their blog post, the company is taking an open approach with its request to enable partnerships across the industry.

The social media giant also told interested parties to complete an initial qualification intake by January 3 and to submit a full RFP proposal by February 7.

Meta also added: “We believe that nuclear energy can help provide firm baseload power to support the growth needs of the electric grids that power both our data centers, as well as the communities around them.”

Data centers are the physical infrastructure on which platforms operate. Meta believes that nuclear energy will play a pivotal role in the transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and diversified electric grid.

The technology company for more than a decade now has been investing in wind, geothermal, battery storage, and solar energy but looks to expand its scope. It feels the expansion to nuclear power will guarantee them even more power.

Meta is targeting 4 gigawatts in the early 2030s

Looking at having up to four gigawatts of nuclear capacity by the early 2030s, the company will have enough energy to reach material cost reductions by developing multiple units.

“Nuclear energy projects are more capital intensive, take longer to develop, are subject to more regulatory requirements and have longer expected operational life,” the technology company added.

According to Meta, the said differences mean they have to engage nuclear projects earlier in their development life cycle and consider their operational requirements when designing a contract.

The nuclear proposals come as the technology company this week revealed plans to construct a $10 billion, 1,500MW data center in northeast Louisianna in order to support its AI efforts. The 4 million square foot facility at its largest point extends more than one mile from front to back. The data center is said to be the biggest of all Meta facilities and will be run on natural gas.

Since 2020, Meta has been matching its entire annual electricity usage with new renewable energy and the company is promising to match the data center’s electricity use with 100 percent clean renewable energy.

“Going forward, this commitment is more important than ever to support our vision of operating sustainably.”

Meta.

“As our sector continues to grow we are committed to working across industry to advance our sustainability commitments and transform the grid of the future,” the company added.

by going nuclear, Meta is joining other tech giants in turning to the energy source in order to power their data centers.

Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have also announced plans for nuclear generation to support their energy-hungry infrastructure with base load power that is clean and reliable.

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