Sam Altman's nuclear startup Oklo has signed a major power purchase agreement to supply electricity for AI datacenters.

Oklo, the Sam Altman-backed nuclear fission startup, has signed an agreement with data-center operator Switch that the company says is the largest-ever corporate power deal. The agreement calls for Oklo to construct its small modular reactors by 2044 to power Switch's data centers, which are used by large energy-intensive clients like Google and Nvidia. The deal calls for enough reactors to deliver 12 gigawatts of electricity—enough to power approximately 300,000 homes. This marks the largest corporate clean power agreements ever signed, according to Oklo, eclipsing the deal Microsoft recently made to restart parts of Three Mile Island.

The timing reflects a growing demand for nuclear energy to power the data centers fueling the rise of artificial intelligence. Oklo stated that AI companies have energy demands that aren't "even imaginable yet" and need consistent and sustainable power, which rules out renewable and fossil fuels. Bonita Chester, a spokesperson for Oklo, told Newsweek: "The agreement supports the development of multiple new data centers for Switch, aligning with their ambitious expansion plans and future energy demand projections. This collaboration goes beyond financial investment; it is about forming long-term partnerships that accelerate deployment and scale the business sustainably."

Oklo has been on a dealmaking tear this year beyond the Switch agreement. In April, the company signed a non-binding letter of intent with Diamondback Energy to collaborate on a 20-year power purchase agreement to supply power to its shale-oil operations in the Permian Basin. In May, Oklo signed another non-binding letter of intent with Wyoming Hyperscale to collaborate on a 20-year power purchase agreement to supply 100 megawatts to its data center campus. In September, Oklo finalized an agreement with the Department of Energy to move forward with its first commercial microreactor, a major step for the company seeking to transform the nuclear energy industry with small modular reactors that require less time and money to build and operate than traditional nuclear plants.

Oklo is working to disrupt the nuclear industry through miniaturization and innovative design. Its Aurora microreactor requires only about two acres of land and, unlike current nuclear reactors, does not require water as a coolant, allowing the company to drive costs down significantly and "tap into existing supply chains." Oklo has stated that today's reactors use about five percent of the clean energy they give off, meaning nearly 95 percent of the energy content is wasted. The company is developing scalable nuclear power plants based on liquid metal reactor technology and will sell power generated from Aurora microreactors directly to customers under long-term contracts instead of a licensing agreement, taking "the burden away from our customers" of having to create a plant to use the technology.

Oklo still requires approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before it can bring its first reactor online, having already been denied approval once—the NRC rejected its first application to build a microreactor in 2022. The company is the only advanced fission company with a Department of Energy site use permit, originally awarded in 2019. Oklo, whose name comes from the region of Gabon, Africa where self-sustaining nuclear fission reactions took place naturally about 1.7 billion years ago, went public in May with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, serving as the company's chairman. The company is targeting late 2027 for its first commercial reactor to come online, though it still hopes to bring a reactor online within three years. Rob Roy, founder and CEO of Switch, stated in a press release that the Oklo deal will allow Switch to remain "the leader in data center sustainability."