X-energy stock jumps in Nasdaq debut as it raises $1bn for small reactors

In short: Amazon-backed nuclear company X-energy rose as much as 36% on its first day trading on Nasdaq after raising $1 billion in its IPO.

What happened

X-energy, a US company that develops small nuclear power plants, started trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday. Its shares climbed as high as $31.33, up as much as 36% during the day.

The company sold shares to the public in an IPO, which is when a company first lets everyday investors buy its stock on the market (like opening a shop to the public after selling only to private backers). X-energy raised $1 billion, and the company was valued at about $12 billion on a “fully diluted” basis, which is an estimate that counts all potential shares.

X-energy says it is responding to rising electricity demand from data centers, which are large buildings filled with computers that run online services and AI. The company plans to build many small modular reactors, often called SMRs, in the US and the UK. SMRs are designed to be smaller than traditional nuclear plants and built in a more repeatable way, like making many similar units instead of starting from scratch each time.

X-energy has deals with Dow, Amazon, and Centrica. It has not yet received full approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a reactor, but it did receive a license in February to make nuclear fuel for advanced reactors at a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Why it matters

AI services are pushing up demand for steady, around-the-clock electricity, and power supplies can limit how fast new data centers get built. Investors are watching whether smaller nuclear plants can be built faster and more predictably than past projects, and whether regulators approve them in time.

Source: Financial Times