Greater Nuclear Adoption Needed for AI, AWS CEO Says

CEO of AWS Matt Garman tells the BBC that nuclear energy is a “great solution” to the energy needs of data centres, suggesting they are “an excellent source of zero carbon, 24/7 power”.

As the UK remains eager to become a global leader in AI, building out the infrastructure – including data centres – needed to support such growth is going to be a significant undertaking.

The country, having admitted it is behind in adopting AI technology, has started this development process. Its proposal for AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) are designed to unlock greater investment opportunities for AI data centres, whilst also improving access to power and providing planning support.

However, the sustainability question still lingers in the air.

In response, leading technology companies are starting to turn their heads to future-proof solutions that seek to develop and deploy AI in a more sustainable way. Speaking with the BBC, Matt Garman explains how these future energy requirements are central to the cloud computing giant’s strategy.

“It's something we plan many years out,” he says. “We invest ahead. I think the world is going to have to build new technologies. I believe nuclear is a big part of that, particularly as we look 10 years out.”

Are SMRs really the future of data centre design?

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are small modular reactors that are smaller than traditional nuclear power plants. Their modular construction has been suggested as a way to deliver nuclear faster – which has led to them growing in popularity, especially within the data centre industry.

Nuclear power is being touted as a strong sustainable solution for powering the AI revolution, particularly because it is virtually carbon free and can provide electricity 24 hours a day.

Despite radioactive waste concerns, nuclear has become a strong contender for the data centre industry to slash emissions. As the use of SMRs expands, nuclear-powered data centres are expected to become an even greater reality within the next decade. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says as projects, policies and investments in the nuclear energy space continue to increase, so does the desirability of SMRs.

Technology giants, including Amazon, have already invested in nuclear power to support their continued data centre expansions to avoid guzzling large amounts of energy.

Last year, Amazon entered into nuclear energy agreements with Energy Northwest and Dominion Energy, in addition to nuclear reactor X-energy, to invest in nuclear energy. 

These agreements were designed to help support the company’s data centre facilities and the local communities around them, in addition to combating its rising emissions.

Speaking at the time, Matt Garman said: “Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040.”

What AWS is doing to get ahead

AWS is planning to invest further on new data centres in the UK and expects to contribute £14 billion (US$18.63bn) to the country’s total GDP over the next five years.

The company says this is to form part of its data centre supply chain, which ranges from construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications and other jobs within the broader local economy.

“AI is one of the most transformative technologies since the internet. It's going to have a significant effect on almost every part of our lives,” Matt Garman tells the BBC. “With any technology that is sufficiently new or hard to understand, people are probably appropriately scared of it initially, until they better understand it so that initial response is not particularly surprising.”

He adds: “Anytime you're building that much of a transformational technology, it's important to think about those controls and guardrails so that it can go towards the betterment of society not the detriment.”

AWS is also the single largest corporate buyer of renewable energy worldwide and has funded more than 40 renewable solar and wind farm projects in the UK alone.

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