Amazon has teamed up with American Electric Power (AEP) to explore the deployment of almost 960MW of small modular reactor (SMR) capacity in Indiana.

Amazon-backed X-energy will supply 12 of its Xe-100 SMRs, each with 80MW of electrical capacity and a further 200MW of thermal power. Once deployed, the SMRs are expected to supply power both directly to Amazon’s data center portfolio and to the regional power grid operated by AEP.

Amazon will fund the project and be the first offtaker to purchase power once it becomes operational. The partners claim that the project could create more than 1,000 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent roles.

The project is the second Amazon and X-energy have signed with a regional utility company. In 2024, the companies partnered with Washington state utility Energy Northwest to develop up to 960MW of capacity from approximately 12 SMRs.

The Cascade Advanced Energy Facility is slated for construction outside Richland, Washington, near Energy Northwest’s existing Columbia Generating Station. According to Amazon, the projects are part of its bigger goal of deploying more than 5GW of nuclear capacity in the US by 2039.

“AEP and its Indiana Michigan Power utility have operated a nuclear power plant for more than 50 years, making them an ideal facility operator. Combined with X-energy’s advanced reactor technology and Amazon’s long-term commitment to carbon-free energy procurement, the partnership is designed to deliver reliable, affordable, carbon-free power to Indiana communities and businesses for decades,” Josh Weissman, vice president of data center delivery at AWS, said.

X-energy’s Xe-100 is a pebble-bed, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that utilizes helium as a coolant. Fuel pebbles - about the size of a billiard ball - power the reactor, with each pebble containing thousands of uranium fuel particles. The company claims its fuel and helium coolant prevent a meltdown without requiring active systems or human intervention for safety, allowing it to be built close to urban areas.

X-energy has also signed several other deployment agreements, planning 6GW in the UK with Centrica and up to 1.44GW in partnership with PJM and Talen in Pennsylvania.

The company is also constructing a US-based facility to produce TRISO-X fuel, designed to deliver scalable, safer, and reliable power for industrial and energy applications.

Last year, the company signed an agreement with South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. to accelerate the deployment of new SMRs in the US. As part of the collaboration, the companies aim to mobilize up to $50 billion in public and private investments for Xe-100 projects and to expand SMR supply chain capacity to support its growth.

To fund the development of the SMR, the company has raised more than $700 million to date, with the latest round led by Amazon. The company completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April, at which time it was valued at $11.9 billion. More recent estimates now have it around $4.1bn.

Amazon is not the only major tech firm to back SMRs over the last two years. A swathe of other data center operators and hyperscalers have supported the technology. Notable examples include Google, Data4, Oracle, Switch, and Equinix