By Connor Hart
Shares of Oklo and Vistra jumped after Meta Platforms said it would back nuclear projects with the companies to support its artificial-intelligence data centers.
Oklo's stock climbed 19%, to $115.75, in premarket trading Friday, while Vistra's stock was trading hands 8.8% higher, at $163.80.
The Facebook parent said before the bell it would back new reactor projects with developers TerraPower and Oklo. The company also inked a deal with power producer Vistra to purchase and expand the generation output of three existing nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Financial details weren't disclosed.
Meta is hoping for the reactors to be delivered quickly, or as early as 2030 and 2032, The Wall Street Journal reported. Its purchase of nuclear power from Vistra begins later this year and will keep power on the grid.
"We're very eyes-wide-open that the schedule is challenging, but we think it's important to be bold," Urvi Parekh, director of global energy at Meta, said in an interview with the Journal.
Meta has previously turned to nuclear power to support its AI ambitions. The company last year agreed to buy the power generation of a nuclear plant in Illinois for 20 years under a deal with Constellation Energy.
Other tech-nuclear deals include Amazon.com's investment in the reactor developer X-energy, Microsoft's 20-year power-purchase agreement with Constellation to spur the restart of the former Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, and a Google-NextEra Energy partnership to reopen a nuclear reactor in Iowa.
Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-09-26 0651ET
