Will nuclear really power the AI boom?

Big Tech’s rush to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) has had secondary impacts across who knows how many industries at this stage. Cantillon isn’t thinking about all those jobs that will supposedly be lost in the years ahead because of AI, but rather the sectors that will cater to the growth in AI – chipmakers are a prime example – or the energy and data centre industries which face ever-increasing demand for their products.
The data centre issues have been well rehearsed in Ireland at this stage. But it is worth recounting just a couple of the changes the rush to AI appears to be bringing.
OpenAI reportedly pitched the US government on an unheard of build out of data centres in the US to harness the power of AI. The centres would use about 5GW of energy – enough to power a city. A nuclear reactor produces about 1GW of power.
Meanwhile, despite all the commitments to cut emissions in recent years, Microsoft’s emissions actually rose 30 per cent between 2020 and 2023, because of the company’s investment in data centres to power AI and cloud computing, it said. For similar reasons, Google’s emissions meanwhile were 48 per cent higher in 2023 than 2019.
Given these issues, it is perhaps not surprising that firms are now turning to nuclear power. Microsoft plans to revive the infamous Three Mile Island plant in the US – scene of the country’s worst nuclear accident in 1979 – to power its data centres, while Google is also investing in nuclear for the same reasons. Amazon said on Wednesday it is investing in a company developing small nuclear reactors as it seeks low-carbon energy for its own server farms.
[ Just because Ireland is good for data centres does not mean they are good for usOpens in new window ]
It’s logical, given the public backlash to Big Tech’s voracious demand for energy and the fact it will only increase as AI becomes more powerful. But, as we have long known, it will only take one accident to make nuclear unviable politically. If Big Tech are concerned about the backlash against data centres now, there is little sign it will ease off with the use of nuclear energy.