The Zhitong Finance App learned that Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy (CEG.US), recently pointed out in an interview that the rapid development of artificial intelligence is driving a significant increase in electricity consumption and is expected to have a significant impact on nuclear energy. The power industry is expected to experience the biggest surge in electricity consumption in a generation, which has also contributed to Constellation Energy's stock price rising 60% this year. This unprecedented growth has made nuclear energy a key source of electricity supply, particularly in the context of high energy demand.

Dominguez further explained that although nuclear power faces many challenges in meeting growing demand, such as the slow pace of construction, there are four strategies that can help mitigate this problem: first, keeping existing nuclear power plants in operation is key, especially in the context of the US shutting down more than a dozen nuclear power plants in the past ten years; second, Constellation Energy is exploring ways to increase electricity supply by upgrading facilities and fine-tuning systems.

Third, he proposed restarting some facilities that have already been shut down. For example, the Department of Energy recently announced that it will provide a $1.5 billion loan to help restart the Michigan Palisades nuclear power plant, which was shut down in 2022; finally, the industry is actively developing new reactor technologies, although these technologies will take years to commercialize.

In addition, the stock prices of other energy companies such as Vistra Energy (VST.US) and TALEN Energy Corporation (TLNE.US) have also risen significantly over the past year, partly due to the nuclear power capacity they supply. Vistra's stock price rose 193% in one year, and TALEN Energy's nuclear power plant data center campus attracted the favor of major customer Amazon Cloud Services (AWS).

Despite this, challenges in the nuclear energy industry remain. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, society's trust in nuclear energy risks and nuclear waste disposal has declined. Furthermore, nuclear power usually costs more than natural gas, and is almost unprofitable without government subsidies, which is particularly prominent in the context of declining renewable energy costs.

However, with increased political support and lifestyle changes, such as the spread of electrical appliances such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, and investment in AI data centers by major technology companies, nuclear power is quietly recovering.

According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) data, data centers currently use 2.5% of electricity, and this is expected to increase to 7.5% by 2030. Tech giants such as Google's parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US), Microsoft (MSFT.US), and Amazon (AMZN.US) are all increasing their investment in this field.

Nuclear power not only has lower carbon emissions and operates more cleanly, but is also more stable than intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind power. Despite much attention being paid to the development of future technology, not every company can benefit from the revival of nuclear energy, since about 60% of nuclear capacity is in the hands of utility power companies, and most of these companies' nuclear power capacity is already fully utilized.