TerraPower, the nuclear startup founded by Bill Gates, plans to announce its first data center project this year, with construction expected to start in 2027. The company did not disclose the customer but confirmed the project will be its second power plant, following the ongoing construction of its first reactor in Wyoming.
The reactor, a 345-megawatt molten salt-cooled design, uses molten sodium to store excess heat instead of ramping down output. This allows the plant to meet sudden spikes in demand without stressing the reactor, a challenge that has forced data centers to rely on expensive battery banks or natural gas turbines.
TerraPower’s approach pairs high-capacity nuclear generation with flexible storage, a combination it originally designed for renewable energy grids. The company argues this makes it well-suited for the intermittent power needs of AI data centers, where workloads can swing rapidly. The reactor’s design avoids the inefficiency of reducing output, which is costly for capital-intensive nuclear plants.
If successful, the project could give TerraPower an early lead in the race to supply reliable, low-carbon power to AI infrastructure.
