The largest investment in Pennsylvania's history! Amazon bets $20 billion on nuclear power data centers

Amazon invests in nuclear power data centers, regulatory resistance may affect the U.S. energy landscape.

On June 9th, media reported that Amazon announced it will invest $20 billion to build two data center campuses in Pennsylvania. The first data center is being constructed next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania, while the other is located within the Keystone Trade Center logistics park in Fairless Hills, which was once the site of a U.S. Steel factory.

The report cited a statement from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, stating that this is the largest capital investment in Pennsylvania's history. Notably, the direct connection of one of the data centers to the nuclear power plant's electricity supply has drawn close attention from federal regulators.

Since the beginning of 2024, Amazon has committed to investing approximately $10 billion in data center projects in Mississippi, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina to increase infrastructure investment, compete with other tech giants, and meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence products. As of Monday's market close, Amazon's stock price rose by 1.60%.

Nuclear power plant "dedicated line" transaction encounters regulatory red light

The rapid development of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has driven demand for data centers, which require electricity to operate servers, storage systems, networking equipment, and cooling systems.

Analysts say that for tech giants, directly connecting energy-intensive data centers to power plants can shorten development time by several years, which is much faster than connecting to congested power grids.

Talen Energy, a major shareholder of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, announced last year that it sold a data center near its nuclear power plant to Amazon for $650 million, which has a dedicated power supply agreement with the nuclear power plant. The deal will ultimately provide 960 megawatts of power, equivalent to 40% of the output of one of the largest nuclear power plants in the U.S., enough to power over 500,000 households.

However, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has postponed the transaction on procedural grounds, marking the first such case faced by the agency.

The report noted that it is currently unclear when FERC will make a decision on this matter. This has raised questions about whether shifting electricity to higher-bidding customers could lead to power shortages for other users, and whether it is fair to exempt large power users from grid fees.

Previously in Pennsylvania, Microsoft reached an agreement with the owner of the closed Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to restart the reactor under a 20-year agreement to power its data centers in four states.

Meanwhile, the owner of what was once Pennsylvania's largest coal-fired power plant has stated that they will convert it into a $10 billion natural gas-powered data center campus When traditional power grids cannot meet the energy demands of the AI era, tech giants are redefining America's energy landscape with real money. The question is whether regulators will give the green light for this energy revolution