Microsoft is planning to reopen a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, however it’s not the one tech big tapping into nuclear vitality to fulfill AI’s increasing power needs: Google can also be entering into the sport with a brand new partnership.
On Monday, Google signed “the world’s first corporate agreement” to purchase nuclear vitality from engineering firm Kairos Energy. Inside the subsequent six years, Kairos Energy will get its first power-generating nuclear reactor up and operating. By 2035, the corporate will present Google with a number of sources of nuclear energy.
The settlement provides 500 megawatts (MWs) of energy to the U.S. grid.
Associated: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says Nuclear Energy ‘Is a Wonderful Way Forward’ to Keep AI Data Centers Running
Per Google’s assertion, the settlement was essential to help AI developments.
“This settlement helps speed up a brand new expertise to fulfill vitality wants cleanly and reliably, and unlock the total potential of AI for everybody,” Google wrote.
Google is already behind on its environmental targets due to investments in AI — the expertise was the primary explanation for emissions going up 48% since 2019. Nuclear vitality is a carbon-free vitality supply, one more reason Google famous for the partnership.
In the meantime, Microsoft has signed an settlement to purchase nuclear vitality from Three Mile Island, a plant that skilled the most serious accident in U.S. commercial operating history in 1979. The plant shut down in 2019 for financial causes however will reopen with a $1.6 billion funding. Microsoft will purchase vitality from it for 20 years.
Associated: Will It Take Nuclear Power to Sustain AI? Microsoft Is Betting on It.