According to the Star Daily on November 21, American hedge funds are flooding into the nuclear power sector.

The AI industry is generating explosive growth in electricity demand, with nuclear power seen as a key direction. According to Goldman Sachs' latest analysis of 697 funds with total assets under management exceeding 3 trillion dollars, American fund managers made significant purchases of nuclear power company stocks in Q3 this year, aiming to seize the opportunity.

On Goldman Sachs' "hedge fund VIP list," the most favored stocks by fund managers are listed. Under the "nuclear power heat," several nuclear power concept stocks have already made it to this list.

For example, but not limited to the power company $Vistra Energy (VST.US)$ , this company currently has about 6.4GW of nuclear power installed capacity in the USA, owning the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas, the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania, and the Perry and Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plants in Ohio;

another independent power company $Talen Energy (TLN.US)$ Also entered the list in the third quarter. Talen Energy's Susquehanna steam power station in Pennsylvania has a generating capacity of 2.7 GW, making it one of its core assets.

Goldman Sachs pointed out that overall, hedge funds maintained a stable exposure to AI-related investment themes in the third quarter, but for the first time since the second quarter of 2022, reduced investments in the semiconductors sector.

▌AI "energy savior"? Technology giants are clustering to layout.

The energy consumption of AI has always been a highly focused topic, with more and more large tech companies turning to nuclear energy to meet the growing electricity demand of datacenters.

In OpenAI's recently revealed "US AI infrastructure blueprint," its grand nuclear power vision is hidden. OpenAI suggests that investment in AI in the USA will bring tens of thousands of job opportunities, GDP growth, a modernized grid including nuclear power, a batch of new chip manufacturing facilities, and billions of dollars in investment from global funds. The US Navy operates approximately 100 small modular reactors (SMR), and with the Navy's expertise, more civilian SMRs could be built.

Jensen Huang previously stated in an interview that more and more datacenters need wind power, and nuclear energy is a great choice. "Nuclear energy, as a form of energy, a sustainable energy, is excellent. But it will not be the only source of energy. We will need energy from all sources, and balance the availability, cost, and long-term sustainability of energy."

$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ and $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ / $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ It has been mentioned that new nuclear power facilities may help meet the future surge in electrical utilities demand.

It is worth noting that, looking at the movements of technology giants, most of them have chosen small modular reactors (SMR):

OpenAI's Altman serves as a director. $Oklo Inc (OKLO.US)$ Efforts are being made to realize the company's first SMR by 2027;

Google has signed an agreement with the nuclear energy startup Kairos Power, which will build seven SMRs to power Google's datacenters;

$Amazon (AMZN.US)$Cloud AWS announced a cooperation agreement with three companies, with an initial investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to develop SMRs;

$Oracle (ORCL.US)$A permit has been obtained to build three nuclear reactors, all of which are SMRs designed to power AI datacenters……

Compared to traditional large nuclear power plants, SMRs have advantages such as smaller land area and shorter construction time, allowing them to be built closer to the electrical utilities. Generally, SMRs have a power output capacity of about 300 megawatts, which is roughly one-third of that of traditional large nuclear reactors.

Haitong International Securities points out that in the medium to long term, SMRs may become the highest priority energy investment direction for large technology companies in the USA.

According to IAEA predictions, by 2050, about a quarter of new nuclear power capacity is expected to come from SMRs. Thanks to the significant interest and investment from end users, especially large technology companies in nuclear power technology (particularly SMR technology), global nuclear power is expected to develop optimistically. Based on the development of SMR technology and the active promotion by large technology companies, analysts expect the first commercial SMRs to be put into operation around 2030. The installed capacity of commercial SMRs is expected to explode from 1 GWe to 122.25 GWe from 2030 to 2050, with an average new installed capacity of 6.11 GWe and a compound growth rate of 27%.

In terms of specific links in the industry chain, Citic Sec's research report on November 20 recommended investing in nuclear fuel (uranium), nuclear power equipment, spent fuel treatment, and nuclear power operators.

Overseas analysts recommend focusing on: 1) overseas nuclear fuel suppliers; 2) large equipment manufacturers; 3) small modular reactor construction companies; 4) core equipment and automation; 5) nuclear power operations.

Domestically, recommendations include: 1) benefiting from the resumption of approvals for global nuclear power projects and accelerated construction, the demand for natural uranium is expected to exceed expectations, with a bullish outlook for uranium price centers in the medium to long term; 2) pressure vessels, steam generators, nuclear main pumps, and nuclear pump bearings in the nuclear island equipment segment with stable competition and high added value; 3) the nuclear valve segment, which is continually improving its product matrix, is expected to further enhance its unit value; 4) potential breakthroughs in technology with broad prospects for domestic substitutes in the spent fuel storage and transportation segment; 5) nuclear power operations.

Editor / jayden