Key takeaways
- Nuclear energy stocks soared Thursday, extending gains earlier in the week amid expectations of growing energy needs driven by data centers to support AI.
- President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a $500 billion joint venture with Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank to build AI infrastructure in the United States.
- Shares of Oklo, backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, jumped nearly 14% on Thursday and have added nearly 50% this week since reporting on the initiative was released.
Nuclear power stocks soared Thursday, extending gains earlier in the week as President Donald Trump’s announcement of a $500 billion joint venture with Oracle (ORCL), OpenAI and SoftBank to building AI infrastructure has reinforced expectations of growing demand for energy to support AI.
Shares of nuclear power startup Oklo (OKLO), backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, jumped nearly 14% on Thursday and added nearly 50% this week, as reports on the project were published on Tuesday. US markets were closed on Monday.
Shares of NuScale Power (SMR) also jumped nearly 14% on Thursday, adding 32% this week. Meanwhile, Vistra (VST) shares soared nearly 3% on Thursday and have gained 12% for the week so far.
Constellation Energy (CEG), which has a contract with Stargate partner and OpenAI backer Microsoft (MSFT), rose 4% on Thursday, bringing its gains for the week to around 9%. Shares of Constellation and rival Vistra have exploded over the past year, tripling and quintupling respectively over the past 12 months.
Shares of Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE) jumped 17% on Thursday after the company was awarded patents related to its transportable modular nuclear generator designs. The company is developing portable reactors designed for use in remote locations. Its stock has soared more than 70% so far this month.
UPDATE—January. December 23, 2025: This article has been updated to clarify that US markets were closed on Monday.
