Amazon-backed Nuclear Developer X-energy surges 27% in trading debut

The shares of an Amazon-backed small modular nuclear reactor company jumped 27% on its Wall Street debut as investors flocked to the latest stock offering tied to a revival in atomic energy.

X-energy’s shares closed at $29.20 on the Nasdaq on Friday, after the company lifted its price target to $23 from a range of £16-$19 initially marketed to investors, giving it a fully diluted market capitalisation of just under $12bn. The offering raised $1bn from investors.

The US-based company is tapping into surging demand for electricity from data centres to power the AI boom. They plan to build scores of small modular reactors in the US and UK following deals with Dow, Amazon, and Centrica. The listing comes as a race to roll out a new generation of smaller nuclear reactors, with rival US developers like TerraPower and Kairos Power starting construction on commercial projects.

Clay Sell, chief executive of X-energy, told the FT that “we have the opportunity to build a lot to make nuclear boring, to make it financeable, to make it widely available. That’s the solution that we’re bringing to the market.”

X-energy attempted to go public through a Spac in 2023 but cancelled due to challenging market conditions at the time. It then attracted funding from Amazon in October 2024, which anchored a €500 million fundraising round along with Citadel’s Ken Griffin. The e-commerce giant took two seats on the company’s board. In November X-energy completed a €700 million fundraising round.

While X-Energy has not received full approval from Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a reactor, the agency granted the company a licence in February to make nuclear fuel for advanced reactors at a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. X-Energy is building an SMR that uses helium as a coolant instead of water.

This shows the importance of SMR in the future, and therefore, the electricity demand for AI is largely important. Investors like Amazon are betting early to remain in the competition if the SMR that uses helium as a coolant rather than water becomes successful. It will benefit both Amazon and X-energy.

Diluted Market Capitalisation

This is a more “realistic” version of a company’s value that assumes all possible shares that could exist in the future actually do exist.

Thank you for reading 😃