S&P 500 nuclear power giants Constellation Energy and Vistra edged higher Wednesday after President Donald Trump's announcement of a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
Nuclear stocks were mixed early Wednesday following Trump's announcement Tuesday afternoon that Sam Altman's OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle are planning a joint venture called Stargate, to build data centers and other AI infrastructure in the U.S.
Data centers, needed to "train" AI learning models, are expected to increase electricity demand through the decade and Big Tech players have looked to nuclear power as an answer to this demand surge.
Constellation Energy stock climbed 2.7% to 332.47 in Wednesday's market action while Vistra gained 0.8% to 186.86. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 stocks added 2.3% and 8.5%, respectively. CEG and VST are both extended above traditional buy points, according to MarketSurge chart analysis.
Nuclear Energy Stocks Enter 2025 On A High. AI Data Centers Need Them, A Lot.
S&P 500: Riding The AI Wave
Nuclear energy stocks spent much of 2024 running at the top of the S&P 500 as they rode a wave of excitement as technology companies scrambled to find the electricity needed to power their artificial intelligence ambitions.
Constellation Energy then started 2025 by announcing a 10-year, $840 million contract with the U.S. General Services Administration to supply power to facilities of more than 13 government agencies.
Meanwhile, nuclear stocks soared on Jan. 3 after the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service revised rules for hydrogen production tax credits, allowing nuclear power providers to qualify.
Nuclear energy stocks broadly rallied in October, after Constellation Energy on Sept. 20 sealed a two-decade contract with Microsoft to provide nuclear power for the tech giant's data centers.
Constellation Energy stock is up 55% since the Microsoft deal, while Vistra shares have surged 100%.
Nuclear Stocks
Along with Constellation Energy and Vistra, Talen Energy gained 2.6% Wednesday. Talen Energy signed a $650 million deal last March with Amazon.com for a nuclear powered data center campus.
Entergy, one of the largest U.S. utilities, slipped 1.2% Wednesday. In December, Entergy was chosen by Meta Platforms to help power its planned $10 billion artificial intelligence data center in northeast Louisiana.
Meanwhile, small modular reactor-focused companies generally rallied Wednesday after huge gains Tuesday. There are currently no operational advanced nuclear projects. However, several companies are moving ahead with small modular reactor, or SMR, technology.
Oklo — the nuclear power startup backed by OpenAI head Sam Altman — jumped 9.3% Wednesday. Fellow SMR-focused stock Nano Nuclear Energy leapt 13.3%.
NuScale Power dipped 0.16%.
Constellation Energy stock has a 92 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The S&P 500 stock also has a 96 Relative Strength Rating and a 54 EPS Rating.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
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