The surge in artificial intelligence and hyperscale data centers has done what decades of policy debates could not: it has jolted America back into a serious conversation about nuclear power. Tech’s insatiable appetite for power — and the need for reliable, 24/7 baseload electricity — has exposed the limits of intermittent renewables and created a powerful market case for reactors small and large. Analysts and energy officials now openly forecast a dramatic expansion of nuclear capacity over the coming decades as AI-driven demand reshapes the grid.
President Trump didn’t wait for the left to get comfortable; his administration has leaned into nuclear as a matter of national security and economic competitiveness. Executive actions in 2025 designated AI data centers and the reactors that power them as critical infrastructure, speeding permitting and putting Department of Energy and Department of Defense muscle behind advanced reactors for military and commercial use. That clarity from the top is exactly what industry needed after years of regulatory drift.
Washington has matched words with cash: the Energy Department reissued major solicitations and announced hundreds of millions in targeted funding to jump-start small modular reactors and other advanced designs. Recent federal packages and loan guarantees are directing nearly a billion dollars toward early projects and demonstrations to get factory-built reactors into service sooner rather than later. The taxpayer support is an investment in grid resilience and American technological leadership — not a bailout for failed green fantasies.
Private capital and Silicon Valley money are following the signal, and that should hearten conservatives who believe in markets and innovation. Billion-dollar fundraising rounds and strategic deals—from Bill Gates’ TerraPower raising large new rounds with investors like NVIDIA’s VC arm to landmark agreements between Kairos Power, Google, and TVA—show that market forces and entrepreneurial risk-taking are bringing advanced reactors to life. These aren’t handouts; they’re forward-looking bets by companies that want reliable, affordable power to run the next-generation economy.
Even scrappy upstarts backed by private founders and AI leaders are stepping up, proving the American model of risk, reward, and technical audacity still works. Companies like Oklo have attracted prominent backers and structured big financing plans to build microreactors and fuel infrastructure, signaling that a new industrial boom is underway for firms willing to get their hands dirty. Let the critics howl: when private investors put real money down on reactors, it means jobs, supply chains, and domestic energy security are being rebuilt.
Of course, the left and eco-activists will try to slow this progress with lawsuits, scare tactics, and calls for moratoria on data centers and projects that create jobs. That opposition matters politically but not economically — voters care about power bills, reliability, and national strength, not virtue-signaling halts to progress. Conservatives must point out that blocking sensible energy development because it makes climate activists uncomfortable is a reckless luxury America cannot afford.
This is a moment to choose: double down on American energy leadership or let foreign actors and ideologues dictate how we power the machines that secure our prosperity and our defense. The marriage of AI and nuclear gives the United States a once-in-a-generation chance to rebuild manufacturing, sharpen our competitive edge, and put millions to work while securing cheap, reliable electricity for households and businesses. Conservatives should proudly back the entrepreneurs, the engineers, and the policy changes that make this renaissance possible — because a strong America runs on abundant energy and unafraid capitalism.
