Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Advocates Nuclear Energy as an Excellent Power Source for Data Centers

Big Tech companies are increasingly exploring nuclear energy as a solution to meet the rising power demands of their data centers. Recently, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang suggested that nuclear power could serve as a viable energy source for the company’s needs. This development follows Microsoft’s recent agreement to reactivate the Three Mile Island nuclear facility to supply energy for its nearby data centers.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Huang expressed Nvidia’s interest in integrating nuclear power into its strategy for diversifying energy sources for its data centers.

“Nuclear is wonderful as one of the sources of energy, one of the sources of sustainable energy. It won’t be the only one. We’re going to need energy from all sources and balance the availability and the cost of energy as well as the sustainability over time.”

The trend of utilizing nuclear energy for data centers is gaining momentum within Big Tech. Major companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are expanding their data centers to support ambitious AI initiatives while searching for solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As reported by the International Energy Agency (IEA), electricity consumption by data centers is projected to nearly double by 2026, reaching between 650TWh and 1,050TWh, compared to 460TWh in 2022. Finding cleaner and greener alternatives to fossil fuels has become essential for future sustainability.

Huang highlighted the challenges of constructing new AI factories, referring to the data centers built to handle the demanding workloads of AI technologies. To address significant energy constraints, these facilities are often located away from urban population centers.

He also emphasized Nvidia’s determination to navigate U.S. government export restrictions on chips to China.

“The first thing we have to do is comply with whatever policies and regulations that are being imposed, and, meanwhile, do the best we can to compete in the markets that we serve.”

Moreover, Huang pointed out that while Nvidia’s latest generation chips consume significant power (over a kilowatt each), they enhance overall efficiency by completing tasks more quickly and replacing multiple older components. This transition may ultimately allow Nvidia to shift a considerable portion of its energy requirements toward sustainable sources.

Source: Bloomberg (paywall) | Cover Photo via DepositPhotos.com

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