Nuclear IPO Wave Rides AI's Energy Hunger

Investors seeking exposure to artificial intelligence are increasingly bypassing chipmakers and language-model developers, buying shares of energy and nuclear companies instead. In the first half of 2026, such firms raised $12.6 billion on public markets, nearly three times the total raised in all of 2025. That is the highest figure since the peak of the dot-com bubble in 1999, when a similar frenzy was driven by the first wave of internet IPOs.

Where the money is coming from

An RBC Capital Markets analyst quoted by Motley Fool describes the mechanism plainly: investors started by buying shares of AI companies like Nvidia, then realized that every chip needs power. Data centers training and running large language models consume energy at a rate that is straining existing transmission grids, and renewable sources cannot guarantee round-the-clock supply. That has brought nuclear energy, one of the few sources capable of running uninterrupted for decades, back into investor favor.

Consulting firm ICF forecasts that US electricity demand will grow 39 percent by 2035. Major tech buyers are already locking in supply decades ahead: Amazon has invested in X-energy and plans 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity by 2039, while Google, Microsoft, and Meta are striking their own deals with nuclear plant operators.

A mixed record of debuts

The biggest test of the market so far was X-energy's April IPO. The small modular reactor maker priced shares at $23, and in the first weeks of trading gained as much as 27 percent. The following months brought a reversal, though: according to later data, the stock fell roughly 33 percent below its IPO price. Generator maker ERock suffered a similar fate, losing 42 percent, while data-center power company Fermi is trading 68 percent below its October 2025 offering price.

Not every debut has gone badly. Forgent Power Solutions, a supplier of power distribution equipment, raised $1.7 billion in February 2026, and gas engine maker Innio raised $2.8 billion in June. The difference, as an analyst quoted by BigGo Finance notes, comes down to whether a company already has a working business or is still a research project with no revenue.

Investors started by buying AI stocks like Nvidia. Then they realized: wait, every chip needs energy - RBC Capital Markets analyst

The end of easy narratives

Saxo Bank, in an analysis of the nuclear sector, describes a clear shift in sentiment. A year ago, it was enough to argue that AI needs more power, grids are overloaded, and emissions-free energy is scarce to justify buying a nuclear stock. Today investors demand hard evidence: signed customer contracts, issued construction permits, and a concrete path to profitability.

The atom may power the future, but cash flows will decide whether the investment makes sense - Ruben Dalfovo, investment strategist, Saxo Bank

More companies from the sector are lining up for public listings, including Westinghouse Electric, a company founded in 1886 and backed by uranium producer Cameco and investment fund Brookfield Renewable Partners. Bank of America puts the market potential tied to rising energy demand, driven in part by AI and data centers, at $10 trillion, and more than 80 modular reactor projects are already in development worldwide.

The risk of pre-revenue projects

The problem is that no small modular reactor (SMR) in the US has yet been completed and commercially launched, and construction costs in the nuclear industry routinely blow past budgets, often by as much as double. Licensing processes remain lengthy, and the enriched uranium supply chain is still partly dependent on Russia. That means some listed companies are still early-stage projects, valued more on promise than on real contracts.

For Polish investors and companies, the nuclear sector is becoming increasingly visible on foreign exchanges, and Poland itself is planning to build its own nuclear power plants and investing in domestic data centers, which makes global swings in nuclear stock prices a signal worth watching, especially when assessing future energy costs for local AI computing centers.

The market is still sorting out which companies with nuclear energy and AI in their investor pitch will actually build working power plants, and which will turn out to be just another chapter in the speculative frenzy around artificial intelligence. The next test will come from the anticipated IPOs of Westinghouse Electric and Holtec International, which will show whether investors are still willing to pay a premium for a story alone, or only for signed contracts.