AI Research

Top tech companies partner with nuclear plants as AI energy needs surge

Published

4 days ago

July 3, 2025

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There has been little change in U.S. energy consumption over the past decade. Increased efforts to make energy use more efficient have kept levels low. But over the next five years, demand for electricity to power data centers is expected to more than double. Some estimates show the facilities are expected to require as much energy in 2030 as the entire country of Japan does today.

“Every investor is lining up to invest in the next AI breakthrough. But when it comes to energy, there is a challenge in terms of permitting, the reality of construction timelines for new power plants and new grid capabilities,” said senior advisor with the Wadhwani A.I. center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “All of this could slow down A.I. just as the research and development is preparing for takeoff.”

The demand from tech firms comes amid skepticism from consumers. According to a Fox News Poll on how voters felt about A.I. in society, 43% saw it as a good thing, while 47% thought it was a bad thing.

“I think it’s natural that people will always have, call it a mixture of hopes and anxieties about what a new technology, including any new technology and especially AI may bring,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said. “The truth is we all rely on AI already, even if we don’t think about it.”

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Over the next five years, demand for electricity to power data centers is expected to more than double. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

While positive views have increased faster than negative views, according to polling from 2023, subgroups surveyed expressed opinions all over the board. Most rural voters, White voters, women and those over the age of 45 viewed A.I. as a bad thing. Urban voters, non-White voters, men and those younger than 45 viewed the technology as good. Among major political parties, registered Republicans were most optimistic about A.I. but no party’s approval was above 50%.

Despite the somewhat negative sentiment of most voters, tech companies are powering on.

“A.I. relies on a lot of what we call compute. A lot of chips that do a lot of calculations and a lot of data that is accessed and is stored. So all of that requires more electricity. And it’s why we have to pursue new partnerships as we are with the kinds of companies that generate electricity,” Smith said.

At least two nuclear plants are scheduled to restart thanks to big tech partnerships.

“I think this will all become an increasing part of the nation’s electricity future,” Smith said. “It only makes sense for a power company to invest, to bring something like Three Mile Island back online if it has a guarantee that somebody’s gonna purchase it. And so in this case, Microsoft entered into a long-term advanced purchase agreement with Constellation.”

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Three Mile Island is located near Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg. The site is most widely known for its Unit 2 reactor’s partial meltdown in 1979. It was one of the most serious nuclear accidents in U.S. history. The reactor was immediately taken offline in the aftermath.

“Very small traces of radioactivity have been released from the plant,” said Metropolitan Edison Vice President John “Jack” Herbein at the time.

While there were no detectable health effects, the incident changed how nuclear plants operate. Three Mile Island Unite 1 closed in 2019 for economic reasons. Constellation and Microsoft plan to restart the reactor as early as 2027 at what is now called Crane Energy Center. It will add more than 800 megawatts of energy. That’s enough to power more than 800,000 homes. Nuclear power has the highest energy efficiency rate, yet energy producers say the U.S. should remain diversified.

Cooling towers are seen at Crane Clean Energy Center, previously known as Three Mile Island, from across the Susquehanna River in Middletown, Penn., on Oct. 30, 2024. (Wesley Lapointe for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“I think it’s going to be an important part of the mix,” Constellation President and CEO Joseph Dominguez said. “We don’t need 24/7 power for the full amount of electricity in the U.S. We still have seasonal needs, we still have day and night differences.”

Microsoft is working to add the amount of power back to the grid that the company’s data centers will use from the regional transmission system.

“Our philosophy as a company is that we will invest to bring onto the electric grid as much or more power than we will consume,” Smith said. “We will do that in a way that ensures that none of the neighbors are going to see rise in their electricity rates.”

Constellation is also partnering with Meta to relicense its Clinton Clean Energy Center in central Illinois for another 20 years.

“It’s a combination of existing megawatts plus new megawatts that are being developed pursuant to the great agreements we have with the hyperscalers,” Dominguez said.

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An aerial photograph shows an Amazon Web Services data center in Stone Ridge, Va., on July 28, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Meta plans to add up to four gigawatts of nuclear generation across the U.S. starting in the early 2030s. Amazon will build two data center complexes in Pennsylvania and use nearly two gigawatts of electricity from Talen Energy’s nuclear plant. Google is partnering with Elementl Power on three nuclear projects, each expected to produce 600 megawatts.

“This is all nuclear. It’s a hot industry. It’s a brilliant industry,” President Donald Trump said as he signed several executive orders in May. Those are intended to quadruple domestic nuclear power production within the next 25 years.

“To win the AI race, we’re going to need a lot of energy,” White House A.I. and Crypto Czar David Sacks said. “The new AI data centers are very power hungry. They consume a lot of electricity. And the U.S. electric grid really hasn’t grown very much over the past decade.”

Sacks founded venture capital firm Craft Ventures. Now he is helping steer President Trump’s A.I. agenda.

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“We have to have the most infrastructure. We need to have the most data centers. We need the most computing power, and that means more energy,” Sacks said. “China has doubled the size of its electric grid over the past decade. We haven’t and so we need to drill baby drill and build baby build.”

Bret Baier currently serves as FOX News Channel’s (FNC) anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier (weeknights at 6-7PM/ET), chief political anchor of the network and co-anchor of the network’s election coverage. Baier is also host of FOX News Audio’s “The Bret Baier Podcast” which includes Common Ground and The All-Star Panel. He joined FNC in 1998 as the first reporter in the Atlanta bureau and is now based in Washington, D.C. where he was recently described as “the most influential news anchor in America right now” at the 2025 Semafor Trust in News summit.

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AI Research

New AI model for researchers can make complex research 30% faster: GreyB launched Slate Prism Model

Published

18 minutes ago

July 8, 2025

The Manila Times

Florida, July 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Slate, a leading innovation discovery platform developed by GreyB, has announced the launch of “Prism”, a new structured research module to solve complex, constraint-based R&D challenges. Slate Prism breaks down your query, scans thousands of patents and papers, and delivers evidence-backed insights on what works, what doesn’t, and why. It goes beyond simple search results to deliver in-depth analysis of solutions.

In today’s research landscape overwhelmed by information overload, Slate Prism empowers users to cut through the noise and quickly grasp the core of any subject. It is designed to support researchers working on technical problems that involve multiple interdependent constraints, such as improving product performance without compromising regulatory compliance or reducing costs while preserving core functionality.

“In research and development, the most critical questions are often not binary. They involve trade-offs across efficacy, safety, stability, or compatibility,” said Anmol Saini, Head of the Product at GreyB. “Slate Prism is created to support deep, multi-constraint reasoning that researchers perform. It’s like having a team of expert researchers at your fingertips, capable of synthesizing complex topics into clear, actionable insights, saving users invaluable time and effort.”

Traditional methods force researchers to break down complex questions into isolated sub-queries, run multiple individual searches, and manually compare findings to find overlaps over extended periods. Even existing AI tools struggle with handling full, multi-layered questions, pushing researchers to simplify their approach. Slate Prism reduces the need for manual cross-referencing by allowing users to explore layered, constraint-heavy queries in one go.

Key capabilities of Slate Prism include:

Targeted Search: It breaks down complex technical research questions into structured components based on constraints.Evidence Gathering: Retrieves and integrates insights from a multitude of sources, including patents, research papers, and technical documents.Contextual Analysis: Slate Prism analyzes the relationships between different constraints of the query, providing solutions from both supporting and contrasting studies, which helps in identifying trade-offs, edge cases, and knowledge gaps.Comprehensive Synthesis: It provides evidence-backed solutions, explaining their context and providing researchers a clearer understanding to support decision-making.Source Citation: All generated insights are meticulously linked back to their original studies for further exploration, ensuring transparency and reliability.Dynamic Exploration: Enables researchers to delve deeper into specific solutions and explore related technical literature in more detail with ease. In initial exclusive testing with the first few clients across industries such as cosmetics, F&B, packaging, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and healthcare, Slate Prism demonstrated significant time-saving and accuracy improvements. Early users reported a 30% reduction in the time required to make key decisions, while 45% of respondents noted an increase in decision-making accuracy when utilizing the platform.

As the demand for innovative, AI-powered solutions in R&D grows, Slate leads the way in tackling the emerging challenges faced by researchers. By focusing on multi-constraint reasoning, Slate Prism is aligning with the increasing reliance on AI to solve the toughest challenges in R&D.

With the addition of Prism, Slate continues its focus on supporting research workflows that require not only access to information but also tools that assist in interpretation and decision-making.

Slate is offering an exclusive 14-day free trial of Prism. To start your trial, visit https://slate.greyb.com/trial/

About Slate

Slate is an innovation discovery platform designed for R&D and innovation teams. It enables faster technology discovery, competitive intelligence, and decision support with advanced AI capabilities for complex problem-solving and in-depth analysis. From R&D labs to boardrooms, Slate empowers teams to find what’s out there and validate it quickly.

CONTACT: Name: Deepak Kumar

Email: [email protected]

Job Title: Marketing and Communications, GreyB

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AI Research

2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Even Risk-Averse Investors Can Buy Without Hesitation

Published

58 minutes ago

July 8, 2025

Keith Speights

Betting big on the next hot thing can sometimes burn investors. That can be true even when the next hot thing is as exciting and promising as artificial intelligence (AI).

Concerns about being burned might cause some investors to be leery of buying AI stocks. However, this fear could result in them missing out on huge long-term returns. Are there alternatives for investing in AI that aren’t super risky? Absolutely. Here are two AI stocks that even risk-averse investors can buy without hesitation.

Image source: Getty Images.

Two AI titans

If bigger is better, you won’t find many better AI stocks than Amazon (AMZN -0.07%) and Microsoft (MSFT -0.24%). Amazon ranks as the fourth-largest publicly traded company based on market cap, while Microsoft holds the No. 2 spot. And their AI credentials are impeccable.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the global leader in cloud services, with a market share of 29%. Microsoft Azure is in second place with a market share of 22%. Both cloud platforms continue to enjoy strong growth, thanks in large part to organizations rushing to build and deploy AI models in the cloud.

Amazon and Microsoft boast partnerships with other top AI companies as well. Both companies have teamed up with Nvidia. Microsoft’s investments in ChatGPT creator OpenAI are paying off handsomely, and Amazon has invested $8 billion in Anthropic, the developer of the powerful Claude large language model (LLM).

These two AI titans are also benefiting from AI in their internal operations. Amazon is using AI to recommend products to customers on its e-commerce platform, for example, while Microsoft has rolled out OpenAI’s GPT-4 throughout its product lineup.

Why risk-averse investors should like Amazon and Microsoft

Risk-averse investors know what they’re getting with Amazon and Microsoft. Both companies are AI leaders, but they’re also much more.

Amazon and Microsoft offer tremendous financial stability. Amazon generated revenue of nearly $638 billion last year, with profits totaling over $59 billion. Microsoft’s revenue topped $245 billion, with earnings of more than $88 billion.

Each of the companies has a boatload of cash — $94.6 billion for Amazon and $79.6 billion for Microsoft.

We’ve already seen that Amazon and Microsoft dominate the cloud services market. These two companies are also leaders in other areas. Amazon reigns as the 800-pound gorilla of e-commerce with a market share of 37.6%. Microsoft’s Windows commands a 70% market share among desktop operating systems. The company’s Office 365 suite ranks No. 2 in the productivity software market.

Both companies continue to deliver solid growth. Amazon’s revenue increased 9% year over year in its latest quarter, with earnings soaring 64%. Microsoft’s revenue jumped 13% year over year, with profits up 18%.

More importantly, both Amazon and Microsoft have strong growth prospects. Each company is poised to benefit from the ongoing AI tailwind and the shift from on-premises IT to the cloud. Amazon’s e-commerce platform and Microsoft’s software products also have solid growth potential.

Not risk-free

I don’t want to leave the impression that Amazon and Microsoft don’t have any risks, though. There’s no such thing as a risk-free stock.

Both Amazon and Microsoft face significant competition despite their current market dominance, and growth could be derailed by regulators in the U.S. and in Europe. Both stocks also trade at high valuations: Amazon’s forward price-to-earnings ratio is 34.6, while Microsoft’s forward earnings multiple is 33.2. These valuations make them more exposed if they experience a significant business disruption.

However, longtime investors know that the best stocks often command premium valuations. Amazon and Microsoft are two of the best stocks, with lifetime gains of around 227,800% and 123,200%, respectively.

Although Amazon and Microsoft face some risks, I think the pros of both stocks far outweigh the cons. If you’re a risk-averse investor who wants to profit from the AI boom, I can’t think of two better picks.

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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