X-Energy secures $1.02 billion in a historic nuclear IPO as the Amazon-supported reactor developer jumps 31% upon its debut on Nasdaq.

      In summary: X-Energy successfully raised $1.02 billion through the largest nuclear IPO on record, setting its share price at $23 (21% above the anticipated range) on the Nasdaq. On its opening day, shares rose by 31%, suggesting a market capitalization of $12 billion. The offering was oversubscribed by 15 times. This follows the company's inability to finalize a $1 billion SPAC deal in 2023. The shift in circumstances is attributed to increased demand for power in AI-driven data centers: Amazon pledged to secure 5 GW of power by 2039, while Dow Chemical and Centrica also joined, leading to a doubling of the small modular reactor (SMR) offtake pipeline to 45 GW in just 18 months.

      In October 2023, X-Energy and Ares Acquisition Corporation mutually terminated a SPAC merger, valuing the nuclear reactor company at $1.05 billion, due to persistently volatile public market conditions. Ares was liquidated, prompting X-Energy to return to private funding. By Thursday, 18 months later, X-Energy commenced trading on the Nasdaq with the ticker XE after an upsized IPO priced at $23 per share, notably 21% over its projected range. The offering raised $1.02 billion, setting a record for nuclear public offerings and being 15 times oversubscribed, with one-third of institutional orders receiving no allocation. Shares opened at $30.11, achieving a 31% increase and peaking at $31.33 during trading, leading to an implied market capitalization exceeding $12 billion. The critical difference between the failed SPAC and this successful IPO is not the reactor itself—the Xe-100 existed in 2023—but rather the realization of its necessity for power.

      The reactor

      The Xe-100 is a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled reactor utilizing a pebble-bed design. Each unit generates 80 megawatts of electrical power, cooled by helium gas and fueled by proprietary TRISO-X particles, with uranium enriched to less than 20%. This fuel is encased in ceramic and carbon spheres engineered to withstand extreme conditions, retaining over 99.99% of fission products. The reactor operates without needing a large water supply, active safety systems, or emergency diesel generators to prevent fuel damage. It is capable of ramping from 40% to full power in just 12 minutes, allowing it to efficiently match the variable demands of data centers. Its control requires just four operator-controlled variables, unlike the hundreds needed by a conventional nuclear plant.

      X-Energy’s TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, obtained a 40-year special nuclear material license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), marking the first new fuel fabrication license in almost 50 years, and the first for a Category II facility. The NRC accepted the construction permit application for X-Energy’s flagship project, a four-unit Xe-100 plant at Dow Chemical’s Seadrift operations in Texas, in May 2025, which is projected to undergo an 18-month review. The U.S. Department of Energy selected X-Energy, along with Bill Gates’s TerraPower, for its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Programme in 2020, committing roughly $1.2 billion to develop the Xe-100 and TRISO fuel. This technology has been under development for over a decade, with the necessary capital coming only as demand grew.

      The customers

      In October 2024, Amazon led X-Energy’s $500 million Series C-1 funding round and secured a binding agreement to buy up to five gigawatts of nuclear power from the company by 2039. The initial project under this agreement is the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility, a four-unit, 320-megawatt installation in Washington state, with potential expansion to 12 units and 960 megawatts. Amazon’s nuclear strategy includes not only X-Energy but also the acquisition of Talen Energy’s data center campus near the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania for $650 million and a 1,920-megawatt power purchase agreement extending through 2042. The company is also considering a 300-megawatt SMR initiative with Dominion Energy in Virginia. Amazon aims for reliable, carbon-free baseload power for its AI data centers, which renewables cannot consistently supply. Furthermore, escalating energy costs pose challenges to cloud infrastructure globally amidst shifting electricity economics due to geopolitical instability.

      Dow Chemical’s Seadrift project aims to replace outdated fossil fuel infrastructure with four Xe-100 units providing both electricity and industrial steam, partnering with Fluor for engineering. Centrica has entered a six-gigawatt joint development agreement for the UK’s inaugural advanced reactor fleet. X-Energy’s overall customer pipeline exceeds 11 gigawatts, equivalent to about 144 Xe-100 units. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently reported that