Big Tech eyes Uranium deals as data center power needs surge

Big Tech is circling uranium mines.

According to NexGen Energy CEO Leigh Curyer, major technology companies are in early talks to finance new uranium energy projects and lock in long term fuel supply.

NexGen is developing the Rook I project in Saskatchewan, billed as Canada’s largest uranium development.

Curyer says data center developers are exploring direct funding and supply agreements to guarantee electricity as they pour hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure.

Power demand is climbing fast, because electricity is one of the 4 AI bottlenecks. The International Energy Agency says global electricity demand rose 4.4% in 2024 and another 3% in 2025. It projects 3.6% average annual growth through 2030. In the US, demand rose 2.1% last year and is expected to grow close to 2% annually through the end of the decade. Roughly half of that increase will come from data centers.

Nuclear power is back on the table because it delivers steady, carbon free electricity. For hyperscalers promising zero carbon operations, that matters.

The disruption behind the news: AI’s hunger for power is rewriting the energy market.

This is vertical integration, Silicon Valley style.

For decades, tech companies treated electricity like office rent.

It was a utility expense.

Now it is a strategic input.

AI has turned electrons into a core raw material, just like lithium for EVs or chips for smartphones.

A single large AI data center can consume 500 megawatts or more. That is enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. Multiply that by dozens of campuses planned across the US and Europe, and you are talking about gigawatts of incremental demand that must run 24 hours a day. Solar and wind cannot do that alone without massive storage, which is still expensive and supply constrained. Solar`s only true potential is in solar-based data centers in space, as Musk promises.

If Big Tech starts financing uranium mines directly, three things change.

First, nuclear fuel supply tightens for everyone else. Utilities that assumed they could sign standard long term contracts may find themselves bidding against $2 trillion tech giants with stronger balance sheets and more urgency.

Second, it accelerates the nuclear buildout timeline. Mining projects like Rook I are capital intensive and slow. If data center developers provide upfront financing or guaranteed offtake, projects that might have taken a decade to reach final investment decision could move faster. Capital costs drop when revenue is pre sold.

Third, it redraws the power map. Instead of waiting for utilities to build generation, hyperscalers may cluster data centers near nuclear plants or even co develop small modular reactors. Control the fuel, secure the plant, lock in 20 to 40 years of predictable power. That is not just sustainability branding. That is cost control.

Electricity is becoming the new oil for the AI economy. And tech companies do not like being price takers.

What to watch next

Watch for long term uranium offtake agreements tied directly to named data center projects.

If a cloud provider signs a 15 or 20 year fuel deal, that is a signal this shift is permanent.

Watch uranium prices.

If they spike as tech demand enters the market, utilities will feel it first, and consumers will eventually see it in higher rates.

Watch regulators.

When companies that already dominate cloud and AI start locking up fuel supply, competition authorities may take a harder look at energy market concentration.

And watch where the next generation of AI campuses gets built. They will follow firm power, not tax incentives. Both AI and clean energy are 2 of the 7 disruptive technologies that will change the world.

This is not about green PR, but survival. In the AI race, the companies that control power will control everything else.